



Book 



THE 

STRANGER IN IRELAND? 

OR, 

A TOUR 

IN 

THE SOUTHERN AND WESTERN 

PARTS OF THAT COUNTRY, 

IN THE YEAR 
1805. 



BY JOHN CARR, ESQ., 

OF THE HONOURABLE SOCIETY OF THE MIDDLE TEMPLE, 

AUTHOR OF A NORTHERN SUMMER, OR TRAVELS ROUND THE fiAI/TIC 
THE STRANGER IN TRANCE, iS'c. &C. 



- " Animae, quales neque candidiores 

Terra tuht, neque queis me sit devinctior alter." 

Hor. Lib. I. Sat. 5- 



PHILADELPHIA, 

* R C A N 1 ED F ° R SAMUEL F ' BRADFOR D, JOHN CONRAD & CO., MATHEW 

S 7 T LLIAM ^ ERRAND, P. BVRNE, T. & W. BRADPOD, DAV1D 

OnORci Htrf B ^ CONRAD ' & CO ' ; ^ MO "^D, CHARLESTON S. C." 

WITT? E . ' BALTIMORE 5 BRISBAN & BRANNAN, NEW YORK J AN. 

WILLIAM ANDREWS, BOSTON; .."*?■» ^* 

BY T. ^ C. PALMER, 116, HIGH-STRKET. 

1806, 



JAW* 

CM3 



transfer 
©« 8. Soldiers Home UbrarY 
Jan. *5. 1&33 



DEDICATION. 



TO 



FRANCIS EARL OF MOIRA, 

GENERAL OF HIS MAJESTY'S FORCES, MASTER-GENERAL 
OF THE ORDNANCE, 

ISfc.y &c., isfc. 
MY LORD, 

I CONSIDER myself highly nattered by having 
permission to address the following 'pages to your lordship, more 
particularly as they relate to a country which has the pride of having 
given your lordship birth, and upon which, as a gentleman, a states- 
man, a soldier, and a scholar, you shed such distinguished lustre. 
I have the honour to remain 

Your lordship's obedient servant, 
JOHN CARR. 
3, Garden-court, Temple., 
24 June, 1806, 



PREFACE. 



IN the following pages I have endeavoured to 
illustrate the Irish character, and to give a descriptive 
narrative of a tour into the south and south-west parts of 
Ireland, and also some account of the present state of 
society, political economy, national manners, public 
buildings, &c, of that country. I have as much as pos- 
sible avoided adverting to those points upon which the 
public opinion has divided with temper; where I have 
touched them, I trust it has been with becoming defe- 
rence, and only when they were connected with the pa- 
ramount objects of humanity and general policy. Upon 
those unsettled subjects which have too long excited 
party animosity, I have advanced nothing which can 
have the remotest tendency to inflame the public mind, 
Where time and opportunity did not enable me per- 
sonally to judge, I have had the advantage of corres- 
ponding with some of the most able, impartial, and clis- 



PREFACE. 

tinguished persons of Ireland, and Englishmen resident 
there. 

If I had not been encouraged by a liberal public, 
and prompted to the undertaking by several enlightened 
friends, I would not have engaged in the work : if with 
these advantages I have failed, the fault is my own, for 
the character which I have attempted to pourtray is too 
frank to conceal even its own failings. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

page 
Two Englishmen in India : the Irish hair-dresser and his wig: the fa- 
vourite owl : a singular character : a disappointment : first bull : the 
vale of Llangollen : sketch of the Welsh : pedigree : amatory indul- 
gences : blind Bet: Gelert's grave : holy jumpers: Anglesea: a warn- 
ing : a seasonable relief - 1 

CHAPTER II. 

The bay of Dublin described : the mole : prize pork: an English agri- 
cultural bull : Irish vis-a-vis : ancient history of Ireland omitted : na- 
tions, like individuals, proud of ancient genealogy : the fountain : 
street sounds : jingles : a car : a noddy : the important accelerating 
and retarding words gee and ivoo discussed : a raw : Dublin beggars : 
the black cart : mendicant wit : dress of the low Irish - 17 

CHAPTER III. 

Brief account of Dublin : its progressive improvement : parishes : Jews : 
defective state of its ecclesiastical establishment: its population : the 

- family Bible : necessary weapon for a traveller in Ireland : news- 
paper murders : state of the quarters of the poor : affecting picture : 
Irish philanthropy: the glove -shop : deplorable state of the coin: 
absentees : distressing anecdotes : high state of exchange : attempt 
to develope its cause : a few suggestions offered for its removal 28 

CHAPTER IV. 
The late parliament-house : directors of the bank : old Croaker : for- 
mer Irish house of commons and legislative assembly compared : 
female auditors : English house of commons : French orators : in- 
fluence of a large audience on parliamentary orators : patrician elo- 
quence and the garden-pot; Barry the painter: packets: -mail- 



trtii CONTENTS, 

page 
coaches : a brilliant reproach : the college : monkish law : college 

wit : taste how manifested - 47 

CHAPTER V. 

Dublin society : Ceres and Triptolemus : German and Russian ingeni- 
ous boors: drawing schools: Venus's shell: female legs: natural 
genius for forging franks : " port, if you please :" the parliamentary 
orator and bottle of porter : churches without steeples : the Exchange : 
the comfort of architectural errors : cathedral of St. Patrick's : the 
choir : dean Swift and Stella : brilliant wit : church-residence 58 

CHAPTER VI. 
The Black-rock: local advantage of Dublin: martello towers: cook- 
maid, whiskey, and priest : a letter : Irish taste : Newgate : Irish 
mode of executing criminals : wit: the Castle : statue of justice : the 
late lord Kilwarden : the lord mayor: a bull: mayoralty-house: 
secretary to the lord lieutenant : a vice -regal device - 69 

CHAPTER VII. 

The circular road : the bridges : fire, floods, and tempests, great im- 
provers : Westminster and Essex bridges compared : St. Stephen's- 
green : Lying-in Hospital and other buildings : posting : new mod^J 
of repairing a post-chaise : a print : a lucky mile : address to a dri- 
ver : the Dargle described : lines : the contrast : Rosanna : Devil's- 
glen: Dwyer: fidelity - - - - 79 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Magnanimity of a peasant : good roads : Wicklow cabins : general de- 
scription of one : few checks to marriage : love, how circumstanced 
in Ireland : the potatoe : variety of food discussed : horses : cabin 
politeness : inns : Cronroe : native drollery : Avonmore : Arklow : 
battle fought there : father Murphy, an extraordinary character : 
forcible expression ; anecdotes of simplicity. - - 93 

CHAPTER IX. 

A travelling hint : copper-mines : Wicklow gold-mine : approach to 
Glendaloch": description of it: Joe the historian of the place: cha- 
racteristic cunning and wit : the favourite burial-place : round tow- 
er : use of this curious building : belfries : bells : St. Kevin : D*er- 
mody : a hint 1 cause assigned for the high state of preservation of 
the ancient ruins in Ireland: Ledwich's account of this remarkable 
place : miracles ------- 



lOf 



CONTENTS. ix 

CHAPTER X. page 

Lugtila: social disposition of the peasants: Belle -vue : humane insti- 
tution : the palace of glass : beautiful chapel : Glen of the Downs : 
Swiss cottage : anecdote of native droller} 7 : Garrick and the Irish- 
man : wit : Powerscourt waterfall : venomous animals and St. Pa- 
trick: toad-eaters: climate of Ireland: roads: the advantages and 
abuses of presentments : the intelligent directing-post : church- 
yards : epitaphs : beautiful lines - - 122 

CHAPTER XL 

Literary passion of the Irish : paper called Anti-Union : specimen of 
their song- writing : literary society in Dublin : hospitality : English 
prejudices: Irish economy: pretensions of the Irish potatoe to supe- 
riority profoundly examined : perilous judgment : manners of an- 
cient Irish: Irish breakfast: stirabout: the Irish ladies: Irish crim. 
cons. : the female brogue : Irish gentlemen : their character : duel- 
ling : anecdote : the Irish tourist : Irish military witli respect to duel- 
ling: names and descriptions of distinguished Irishmen in poetry, 
learning, painting, music, and the drama ■> 135 

CHAPTER XII. 

Character of low Irish : their ingenuity : Irish recruits : local organi- 
zation : lying and stealing : ditch schools : native urbanity : common 
modes of salutation : dread of being thought ignorant : hospitality of 
low Irish : the stranger's flute : their sociability: patrons and broken 
heads : clruidical superstition : unpleasant custom : Irish impreca- 
tions : anniversary of St. Patrick and Sheelagh : herring whipping : 
the fairy banshee : innocence and licentiousness illustrated : natural 
delicacy: cleanliness: bravery, its effect: precipitation of speech: 
whimsical anecdotes 155 

CHAPTER XIII. 

Blunders and bulls : shall and will : whimsical exclamation : beautiful 
expressions: the favourite word "elegant:" Irish Monday: Ger- 
man Monday : native pride of Irish : doctor Donolly : begging in 
former times : maternal fondness : filial piety: influence of kindness, 
and character of low Irish : their degraded condition: middle-men: 
nummary of the character of the Irish : Martial's barber 469 



x CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XIV. page 

Tour to Killarney : Naas : raths : other forts : the Curragh of Kildare i 
■wit : St. Brigid: anecdotes of that immaculate lady : Monastereven 
the Bog of Allen : curious bog anecdotes : the enbalmed cobler 
subterranean forests: remarks Upon them: Dutch boors: canals: 
American notions of an improved country : walking bogs : Limerick 183 

CHAPTER XV. 

Thorn ond's bridge : provision-trade: house of industry : shocking spec- 
tacle: group of madmen: lord chancellor Erskine : brief history 
of Limerick: the Shannon: the antiquary Grose and the Irish but- 
cher : Irish language : its sweetness : the celebrated Flood : Dr. 
Johnson : Irish and Carthaginian languages : Carthaginian swords 199 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Lyric quality of Irish language : extracts from ancient Irish bards : 
Patrick Linden : Fitzgerald i O'Geran - - 209 

CHAPTER XVII. 

A travelling hint : country banks : Adair : its monastic ruins : taste and 
veneration of the lower orders for them : provincial idiom : the Pa- 
latines : gloomy country : the social tobacco-pipe : figurative expres- 
sions : whimsical exchange : a pair of breeches : the mountaineer and 
his dog: approach Killarney: opinion of the low Irish of the Eng- 
glish : Killarney: Irish fond of law: the epitaph : Mucruss: prompt 
drollery : a caution : singular predilection : resolution : anecdotes of 
Carolan : specimens of his poetic genius - - 218 

CHAPTER XVIII. 
Visit to the lower lake : Ross-castle : the island of Innisfallen described : 
the hermaphroditical holly : O'Sullivan's cascade : vegetable mas- 
sacre : the quarter sessions : low Irish fond of law : national charac- 
teristics : drollery of convicted culprit : wit : classical character of 
the county of Kerry : castles : catholic seminaries : visit to the upper 
lake : the strawberry-tree : evasive answers : the echo : anecdote : 
breaking heads for love : fighting a sign of tranquillity: the Purple 
Mountain: anecdotes of king Donahue : anecdote of Irish magna- 
nimity : tillage and agriculture : population of Ireland - 235 



CONTENTS. xi 

CHAPTER XIX. page 

Causes of population: population of Russia and China: luxury: its 
effects : English and Irish soldiers : Mill-street : rustic civility : a 
blessing: singular litigation : the blarney-stone and happiness : Cork 
described : the poor i remarks on house of industry : Frenchman's 
eulogium on porter : porter breweries : provision-trade : catholics : 
methodists . hearth-money : more drollery : perjury 254 

CHAPTER XX. 
More figurative expressions : Kilkenny theatricals : verses : Kilkenny 
described : the college : coals : cavalry and pikemen : humour of 
chaise -drivers : the canal-boat : Moira-house : the bell : the letter 
■End Irish dragoon : St. Valori : the late dean Kirwan; his eloquence 
efficacious : brief and beautiful extracts from his sermons - 26r 

CHAPTER XXI. 

Tinnahinch : Grattan : striking specimens of his eloquence and style of 
writing ...... 283 

CHAPTER XXII. 

Powerscourt -house i the four courts described : the Irish bar i eminent 
advocates '■ characteristic affability: curious mode of placing wit- 
nesses : number of counsel in a cause : whimsical circumstance : late 
lord Avonmore •■ anecdote : specimens of Mr. Curran's eloquence : 
false alarm : inundation and lawyers' wigs : the New King's Inn 295 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

The custom-house : observations upon the collection of the customs : 
exports and imports : whiskey and dram-shops : introduction of 
spirits in Ireland : the Foundling-hospital : observations : charter- 
schools : Scots Highland-society '■ education of the poor : ride to 
Dalkey: the theatre: performers: gallery wit: the Female Orphan - 
house: the house of industry ; the Hardwicke Fever-hospital: the 
Hibernian-school : promptitude of women : present state of agricul- 
ture in Ireland : fair at Ballinasloe : retm'n to England 309 

GeYieral remarks 325 



THE 



STRANGER IN IRELAND. 



CHAPTER I. 

TWO ENGLISHMEN IN INDIA. ...THE IRISH HAIR-DRESSER AND HIS 
WIG.. ..THE FAVOURITE OWL. ...A SINGULAR CHARACTER... .A 
DISAPPOINTMENT. ...FIRST BULL.. ..THE VALE OF LLANGOLLEN.... 
SKETCH OF THE WELSH.. ..PEDIGREE. ...AMATORY INDULGENCES 
....BLIND BET....GELLERT'S GRAVE. ...HOLY JUMPERS... -ANGLE- 
SEA. ...A WARNING. ...A SEASONABLE RELIEF. 

A WO Englishmen, who were exploring the distant regions 
■of the East, determined upon visiting the Polygars in the peninsula 
of India. " Do not go there," said the venerable chief of a town : 
u it is a brown and bladeless waste, and the people of that country 
u are wild and savage ; their covering is the skin of the tyger, and 
" they banquet upon human flesh ; in the moment that you place 
" your foot upon their frontier, they will kill and devour you." The 
wanderers became grave, but not disheartened : they pursued their 
journey, and when they reached the peninsula, they found the most 
luxuriant province, smiling in all the prodigal bounty of a beneficent 
Providence, and a people the most gentle, polished, cultivated, and 
hospitable. 

" What can possess you to go to Ireland," exclaimed a friend of 
mine, « where the hedges are lined with pikes and blunderbusses ? 

A 



2 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND, 

" Is it to contemplate famine and bogs, and bog-trotters, salmon- 
" leaps, and restless spirits, so barbarously ignorant, that, in One of 
" their late revolutionary battles, a rebel hair-dresser ran up to the 
" muzzle of a cannon, to which an artilleryman was just applying 
" the match, and, thrusting his wig into its mouth, exclaimed, the 
" moment before he was blown to atoms, By Jasus I have stopped 
" your mouth, my honey, for this time." 

Reader ! do not anticipate, from these preliminary observations; 
that the Irish have better qualities than what have been frequently 
assigned to them : a little time will tell us what sort of people they are ; 
perchance they may be as bad, perchance a little more deserving of our 
esteem, than report has depicted them. Come, let us set off' for the 
waves that are to bear us to their country ; and if we meet in our road 
any object worthy of notice, let us loiter a little to enjoy the contem- 
plation of it. 

It is always a pleasant source of reflection to contrast the manners 
of different people : in the French diligence, whether by land or by 
water, the greatest spirit of accommodation prevails ; and even in a 
German stuhl-waggon, the nose of an Englishman only suffers from 
the smoke of " the Indian weed," which perhaps issues from every 
mputh but his own. Shall our own country be charged with want 
of urbanity, when I relate that, just 3s we were quitting this proud 
and noble city, five men resisted the wishes of an old lady ? It was 
even thus: after the only vacancy in the coach had been filled by a 
little chubby fair dame, who was followed by several bundles and 
bandboxes, until at length we were as thick 

** As bottled wasps upon a southern wall," 

she screamed out, to a pale long-visaged servant who stood dripping 
in the rain, " Now, William, give me -the owl;" upon which a huge 
cage, covered with napkins, was attempted to be squeezed into the 
vehicle, against the admission of which most grave and reverend 
stranger we all protested; the door was closed, our disappointed 
companion, with no little bitterness of spirit, impeached our gallantry,, 
and in half an hour afterwards we quitted the jostling of the pave, 
for the more easy motion of proceeding upon a fine and level road. 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. ,3 

Although I have frequently found a world in miniature in a stage- 
roach, yet the relation of its incidents is never courted, and seldom 
endured: however, I must be permitted to describe a singular cha- 
racter, who formed one of our party. He was about 45, short, 
plump, and rosy ; nature had formed his mind with no little degree 
of whim, which in its action, I should conceive, had neither example 
nor imitation. Every tale which was told was a long time in travel- 
ling through all the sinuosities of the ears to the seat of his under- 
standing ; so much so, that a gentleman having related a very facetious 
story, which put us all in the highest good-humour, this singular be- 
ing, for a considerable time, appeared wholly unaffected, until, in the 
course of conversation, the lively narrative was succeeded by an ac- 
count of a horrible murder, in the midst of which his countenance 
began to brighten, and at last his whole frame became convulsed with 
the exhilarating impressions of the first story. 

It was night when we passed through Oxford ; the dim beams of 
a misty moon just served to mark out the vast and beautiful ancient 
piles which adorn that seat of learning : all was silent ; not a stu- 
dent's taper beamed through his Gothic casement; only a solitary 
proctor was to be seen pacing the melancholy streets with Argus 
eyes. The gloom was enlivened by the reflection, that I should 
breakfast at the town in which our beloved Shakespeare first beheld 
the light of heaven ; that I should see the very house of his nativity 3 
and contemplate the beautiful Avon, so often celebrated in song. 

Alas ! how seldom are our expectations to be realized. Here, 
upon crossing a long, shabby, shattered bridge, over a river desti- 
tute of beauty, and lined on each side by some melancholy marshes, 
I beheld a line of wretched brick houses : " That is Stratford," said 
my nearest companion ; and soon afterwards springing up from the 
breakfast-table at the inn, I beheld in a dismal dwelling, incapable of 
rousing one poetic idea, the native abode of the divine bard. The 
whole scene was out of tune with the impression which the birth- 
place of this unrivalled genius had excited ; I re-entered the vehicle 
as sulky as disappointed Englishmen generally are, and at length 
tlined at Birmingham, so admirably styled by Burke the toy-shop of 



4 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

Europe — Burke who, once the wonder of the senate and an admir- 
ing nation, now reposes in the cold bosom of the grave, whilst his 
prophetic pages find a progressive accomplishment in the prolific 
prodigies of revolutionary France. The production of this wonder- 
ful manufacturing town is the delight of the whole of civilized Eu- 
rope, and will continue to be so, and to find its market there, by fair 
means or by foul, unless, in pursuing that system of exclusion which 
distinguishes the strange policy of his imperial brother of Pekin, 
Bonaparte shall be able to revolutionize the taste of his people. 

To show the superiority of the manufactures of this place, it is 
related of Mr. Bolton of Soho, to whose ingenuity and enterprize 
the world is so much indebted, that when he was in Paris, some 
years since, a Frenchman of fashion exhibited a very beautiful pa- 
pier-mache snuff-box, and observed to Mr. Bolton that he thought, 
able as the English were in every work of art, they were not equal 
to the manufacture of so beautiful and exquisite a piece of workman- 
ship. Mr. Bolton requested to have it, and stepping aside to a win- 
dow, with a fine penknife opened a part of it, and showed the asto- 
nished Frenchman the name of Bolton upon it. Soon after a consi- 
derable wager was laid, that the steel manufactory in France was 
superior to that of England. Mr. Bolton accepted the bet, and on a 
given day one of the most celebrated French workers in steel pro- 
duced his sample, -whir.h was very ingenious, but at this moment I 
forget what it was ; to the surprize of the umpire, Bolton displayed 
a needle, enclosing another, which contained a third, and won the 
wager. 

Near the lofty Wrekin, we passed by several iron mines and fur- 
naces, which had a Vesuvian appearance ; and as the sun declined 
we descended one side of Sneedshill, on which the mouths of smelt- 
ing-houses vomited columns of flame into the dusky atmosphere, and 
presented all the appearance of a valley of fire. At Oswestry a gen- 
tleman who joined us, in talking about the Litchfield races, observed 
that they were very indifferent, for all the horses that ran were dis- 
tanced: this was the first bull I had heard upon the journey, but as I 
was in the high road to Ireland, I concluded I should have many a 
laugh from the same source. Upon inquiry, however, I found that 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 5 

the sire of this bull was a native of Middlesex. Upon leaving Oswes- 
try we reached Denbighshire, the land of the Owens and Joneses, and 
of the ancient descendants of the Belgic Gauls, where, having ad- 
vanced a few miles, one of the most exquisite scenes in nature open- 
ed upon us, as we entered the beautiful vale of Llangollen, in the 
Welsh language called Thlangothlen, two sequent ll's being pro- 
nounced as thl. 

If the reader has never beheld this vale, and occupation will admit 
of it, let him not suffer another summer's sun to roll away without 
visiting it. On our left, from the base of a stupendous cliff, whose 
top was rough with grey rock, an expanded lawn sloped to the bot- 
tom of the valley, encreasing in verdure as it approached the bottom ; 
here softened by the sombre purple of the mountain heath, and 
graceful groupes of mountain ash, and there rendered more brilliant 
by the rich yellow of the furze blossoms. The rocky projections of 
this eminence, from which the martial Llewelyn descended with 
his warlike followers to give battle to Edward I, were crowned with 
browsing sheep ; below, at a giddy depth, the river Dee, filled with 
its finny myriads every moment dimpling its surface, pursued its 
rippling course ; whilst on the other side, from a carpet of fertile 
meadows, and from corn-fields waving their golden honours, an op- 
posite mountain ascended, clothed with woods, half embosoming 
scattered mansions, farm-houses, and thatched cottages ; and in the 
front, bounded by the windings of the vale, appeared the aqueduct 
of the new navigation, spanning the opposite mountains with its lofty 
arches. The sun was brilliant, and the lark gladdened us with his 
song. It was a scene of softness, richness, and variety, that might 
have captivated the olive-faced inhabitant of the vale of Terni. This 
aqueduct is four hundred feet long, its arches ninety high, and its 
trough is of cast iron. I expected to have seen every acclivity 
crowned with a goat, " his white beard streaming to the wind;" but 
being disappointed, I found, upon inquiry, that that salacious family 
was nearly exterminated in North Wales, in consequence of the 
injury which they offered to young growth and saplings. The beau- 
ties of nature here are chiefly animated by the appearance of small 
sheep ? who furnish the most exquisite mutton. 



6 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

Whilst we were changing horses at Llangollen, I visited the 
cottage of the honourable lady Butler and miss Ponsonby, two ladies 
who some years since renounced the vain splendour of fashion and 
dissipation, for scenes of sequestered happiness. At the back of 
the house, on the other side of the vale, a lofty mountain rises 
crowned with the venerable ruins of the tower of the celebrated 
chieftain Dennis Brand. A little beyond Llangollen, we passed the 
scite of Owen Glendower's castle, which is now indicated only by a 
circular ditch planted with trees. At several inns we saw the sign 
of that distinguished chief, the great favourite of Welsh history. 

In the corn-fields I witnessed an instance of bad husbandry which 
surprised me : the Welsh farmers, in this part of Wales, mow and 
rake their corn together as we do our grass and hay ; and when they 
have collected it in heaps, they stack it under a strong matting of 
straw, by which mode much of the grain must be shaken out and 
lost. The male peasant is very fond of wearing a blue coat and blue 
stockings ; and the female is generally attired in a broad black felt 
hat, tied under the chin with a blue riband, a gown of the same co- 
lour, and alight brown great coat. The peasantry present a strange 
mixture of industry and indolence : on one side the traveller, if he 
pass into a cottage, will see a woman with a child at her breast, and 
spinning ; or, on the road, he will meet another knitting as she re- 
turns home from the day's occupation : whilst, on the other hand, 
he will be pestered by groupes of mendicant children, capable of 
working, running by the side of the carriage, and in a shrill sound 
exclaiming, " Got bless u, a penny, bless u." Their native language 
is a dialect of the Celtic. 

The simple honesty of the Welsh has scarcely any parallel. The 
author of the old song, so fresh and dear to infantine recollection, 
beginning with " Taffy was a Welshman, Taffy was a thief," &c. 
must indeed have been a very prejudiced composer. The W^elsh, 
even to the peasantry, are very fond of the pride of pedigree. They 
pretend that they have documents coeval with the incarnation. It 
was to a Welsh lady, who was tracing her family through a remote 
course of genealogy, that a wit said, " To cut the matter short, 
u madam, do begin with Adam." " He is a fellow of yesterday*' 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 7 

said a haughty Welshman, of a man who wanted to marry his 
daughter ; " I'll be bound his family was not born before Christ." 

One evening, at an inn where we halted, we heard a considerable 
bustle in the kitchen, and, upon inquiry, I was let into a secret worth 
knowing. The landlord had been scolding one of his maids, a very 
pretty plump little girl, for not having done her work ; and the rea- 
son which she alleged for her idleness was, that her master having 
locked the street door at night, had prevented her lover from enjoying 
the rights and delights of bundling, an amatory indulgence which, 
considering that it is sanctioned by custom, may be regarded as 
somewhat singular, although it is not exclusively of Welsh growth. 
The process is very simple : the gay Lothai'io, when all is silent, 
steals to the chamber of his mistress, who receives him in bed, but 
with the modest precaution of wearing her under petticoat, which is 
always fastened at the bottom, not unfrequently, I am told, by a slid- 
ing knot. It may astonish a London gallant to be told, that this ex- 
traordinary experiment often ends in downright wedlock — the knot 
which cannot slide. A gentleman of respectability also assured me, 
that he was obliged to indulge his female servants in these nocturnal 
interviews, and that too at all hours of the night, otherwise his whole 
family would be thrown into disorder by their neglect : the carpet 
would not be dusted, nor would the kettle boil. I think this custom 
should share the fate of the northern Welsh goats. 

In some Dutch travels we read, that a courtship similar to bun- 
dling is carried on in the islands of Vlie and Wieringen, in Holland, 
under the name of queesting. At night the lover has access to his 
mistress after she is in bed ; and upon an application to be admitted 
upon the bed, which is of course granted, he raises the quilt, or rug, 
and in this state queests, or enjoys a harmless chit-chat With her, 
and then retires. This custom meets with the perfect sanction of 
the most circumspect parents, and the freedom is seldom abused. 
The author traces its origin to the parsimony of the people, whose 
economy considers fire and candles as superfluous luxuries in long 
winter evenings. Another traveller also mentions, that the lower 
people of Massachusetts Bay indulge themselves in a custom called 
tarrying. If the parents of the young lady approve of her enamorato, 



S THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

they permit him to tarry with her one night. After the old people 
have retired, the young couple go to bed together with their under 
garments on : if they like each other, they marry ; if not, they part, 
perhaps never to meet more, unless the forsaken fair one proves 
pregnant, in which case, under the penalty of excommunication, the 
man must marry her. 

Habit has so reconciled the mind to the comforts of bundling^ 
that a young lady who entered the coach soon after we left Shrews- 
bury, about eighteen years of age, with a serene and modest counte- 
nance, displayed considerable historical knowledge of the custom, 
without " one touch of bashfulness." 

At Pentre Voylas, three miles beyond Cernioge, we entered upon 
the new road, the line of which was first explored by the honourable 
and reverend Mr. Dawson, and which has been constructed at the 
expence of that enterprizing, public-spirited nobleman, lord Penrhyn: 
it runs through Capelcerrig, abbreviates the distance by ten miles to 
Landegai, where it regains the old road, and saves the traveller the 
inconvenience and occasional hazard of the Conway ferry. As we 
entered this road, at a great distance we saw Snowdon rising from the 
earth into the clouds ; and behind him, and some of his mighty bro- 
ther mountains, the sun set gloriously. The road has been opened 
rather too early, before time had completely compacted its surface ; 
but nature, by an abundance of friable rock, presents a speedy re- 
medy for this evil. 

On this road we were met by a well-known character called Blind 
Bet : she is stone blind, but a fine, cheerful, healthy woman ; by the 
bounty of travellers, and the sale of gloves and stockings, the manu- 
facture of her own hands, she maintains an infirm mother, and a train 
of little brothers and sisters. Upon her quitting us, the following 
lines found their way into my pocket-book : 

POOR BLIND BET. 

The morning purple on the hill, 

The village spire, the ivy'd tow'r, 
The sparkling wheel of busy mill, 

The grove, green field, and op'ning flow'r, 
Are lost to thee ! 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND, 

Dark child of nature as thou art! 

Yet thy poor bosom heaves no sigh, 
E'en now thy dimpling cheeks impart 

As if they knew some pleasure nigh ; 

'Tis good for thee ! 

Thou seem'st to say, " I've sunshine too, 
^Tis beaming in a spotless breast ; 

No shade of guilt obstructs the view, 
And there are many not so blest, 

Who day's blush see 

Dear are those eyes, by mine ne'er seen, 
Which I protect from many a tear ; 

Kind stranger, 'tis on yonder green, 
A mother's aged form I rear. 

Oh buy of me !" 



Poor Blind Bet's misfortunes and her virtues excite distinguished 
respect and admiration in the breasts of her neighbours. 

The view of the Devil's Glen which we passed was truly sublime. 
A bridge with one arch rests upon two projecting rocks, and be- 
strides an abyss of tremendous depth ; below foams a thundering 
cascade, which rolls through a rocky chasm into a dusky dell, thickly 
clothed on each side with stately trees. As it was evening, we halted 
midway in descending to the base of a lofty hill, within about five 
miles of Capel-cerrig : here the view was bounded by vast mountains, 
ijwhose tops were in the clouds, and the vallies were covered with a 
light blue mist, whilst the roar of torrents was heard at a distance. 
I never saw nature in a more grand and awful attitude. 

As we approached Capel-cerrig the night had closed : the stars, 
affording but little light, twinkled brilliantly in a dark -blue sky; 
whilst, on the side of the road, we heard the hoarse roar of water- 
falls rolling through deep and rocky glens, overshadowed with project- 
ing trees. We slept at Capel-cerrig, in the neighbourhood of Snow- 
don, amidst rocks and sterility. It is a tedious journey of five miles 
to this mighty mountain, who, with his hoary brethren, attracts the 
clouds that roll far and near, and discharges their burthen of rain 
* B 






10 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

upon the country. How finely has Gray made this mountain the 
theatre of his bard, as if its eminence enabled the frenzied prophet 
to look into other worlds. 

But oh ! what solemn scenes on Snowdon's height, 
Descending slow, their glittering skirts unroll ; 

Visions of glory, spare my aching sight, 
Ye unborn ages, crowd not on my soul. 

From its summit, which is a plain of about six yards in circum- 
ference, may be seen six-and-twenty lakes and two seas ; the Wicklow 
hills in Ireland, the Isle of Man, Cumberland, Lancashire, Shropshire, 
and part of Scotland ; all the counties of North Wales, and the Isle 
of Anglesea. The mist which almost perpetually envelopes the head 
of this mighty mountain, is by the natives called its night-cafi. 

In the morning 1 wandered to a little church, which owed its ele- 
vation to the following interesting circumstance : Llewelyn the great, 
who resided near the base of Snowdon, had a beautiful greyhound 
named Gelert, which had been presented to him by king John in 
1205. One day, in consequence of the faithful animal, who at night 
always " sentinel'd his master's bed," not making his appearance in 
the chase, Llewelyn returned home very angry, and met the dog co- 
vered with blood at the door of the chamber of his child : upon enter- 
ing it, he found the bed overturned, and the coverlid stained with 
gore : he called to his boy, but receiving no answer, he too rashly 
concluded that he had been killed by Gelert, and in his anguish in- 
stantly thrust his sword through the poor animal's body. This cir 
cumstance has been beautifully commemorated by the honourable 
Mr. Spencer: 

His suppliant looks, as prone he fell, 

No pity could impart ; 
But still his Gelert's dying yell 

Pass'd heavy on his heart. 

Arous'd by Gelert's dying yell, 

Some slumb'rer waken'dnigh, 
What words the parent's joy could tell. 

To hear his infant's cry I 



% 



i 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 11 

Nor scathe had he, nor harm, nor dread, 

But the same couch beneath 
Lay a gaunt wolf all torn and dead, 

Tremendous still in death. 



Ah ! what was then Llewelyn's pain'. 

For now the truth was clear ; 
His gallant hound the wolf had slain. 

To save Llewelyn's heir. 

Xo mitigate his offence, Llewelyn built this chapel, and raised a 
tomb to poor Gelert, and the spot to this day is called Beth Gelert, 
or the grave of Gelert, " where never could the spearman pass, or 
" forester unmoved." 

After passing through tremendous scenery of impending rocks, 
a beautiful valley opened upon us, and soon after our eyes were glad- 
dened with hills dotted over with elegant cottages and lodges, which 
form the residence of the overseers and workmen who are employ- 
in lord Penrhyn's extensive slate-quarries. This nobleman furnishes 
the means of subsistence to some hundreds of peasantry. The slates 
of these quarries are shipped to London, Liverpool, Bristol, and other 
ports in England, and to Scotland and Ireland. At Landegai we re- 
entered the old road, and after passing through a very picturesque and 
interesting country we arrived at Bangor, situated under a hill on 
the banks of the Menai. It is a poor town, although it has a bishop- 
ric. It was once called Bangor the great, and was defended by a 
very strong wall, of which, as well as of its former magnitude, 
scarcely an atom now remains. It is also the scite of the most an- 
cient British monastery, which is said to have contained two thousand 
four hundred monks. These holy men divided themselves into 
twenty-four classes for prayer and penitence, so that one hundred of 
r.hem were always engaged for one hour out of the four-and-twenty, 
in the discharge of their religious duties. At a neat inn upon the 
margin of the ferry, which crosses over to the island of Anglesea, we 
breakfasted. At this ferry, as well as throughout the opposite island, 
it is customary for the coachmen and drivers, who are rarely Welsh, 
to endeavour to pass offlhe base shillings of Ireland amongst 







12 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

strangers: they are to be known as well by their brazen appearance 
as by the number of letters with which they are impressed. 

In Wales a religious sect, called the Jumpers, has many follow- 
ers : their doctrine is at least a salubrious one ; and if the soul is be- 
nefited, the body is assuredly no loser, for they whirl and caper about 
until an excessive perspiration announces the presence of the Holy 
Spirit, which constitutes the crisis of that enthusiasm, which de- 
rives its origin from David, who danced before the ark, the babe 
which leaped in the womb of Elizabeth, and of the lame man who, 
upon being made whole, leaped and praised God. 

Whilst we were at breakfast, we were serenaded for the first 
time by a Welsh harper, who played some excellent old Welsh airs. 
It is not unpleasant to compare the customs of countries. When I 
was in Prussia, I found the same usage prevail ; and in Sweden it is 
always usual to congratulate the arrival of a stranger of respectabi- 
lity with music. 

Although the Welsh have been for ages celebrated for the bold- 
ness and sweetness of their music, yet it appears that they were 
much indebted to the superior musical talents of their neighbours 
the Irish. The learned Selden asserts, that the Welsh music for 
the most part came out of Ireland with Gruffydh ap Conan, prince 
of North Wales, who was contemporary with king Stephen. In 
the eleventh century the Welsh bards received instruction from Ire- 
land. The ancient Welsh bards were held in such high estimation, 
that their influence was completely sovereign. We read in EvansjJfc 
Specimens of Welsh Poets, that a Welsh bard, in the plenitude off 
his power and pride, boasted that if he desired his prinCe to present 
him with the moon, he would most assuredly bestow it upon him. 

The ferry is very inconvenient and tedious, and the ferrymen 
have the conscience to charge each passenger one shilling. The 
island of Anglesea is about twenty miles long and seventeen broad, 
contains about two hundred thousand acres, and is washed on every 
side by the Irish Sea, except on the south-east, where it is divided 
from Caernarvon by a narrow strait called Mon, which induced the 
Romans to call it Mona, but being conquered by the English it was 
called Anglesea. It submitted to the arms of Edward I in 1277, 




THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 13 

when the natives sought shelter in the deep caves and rugged ac- 
clivities of Snowdon. Whatever beauty this island might formerly 
have possessed, for we learn that it was once, in the tale of other 
times, called insula ofiaca, from the abundance of its woods, a mere 
cheerless scene of sterility I never beheld, from one end of the 
island to the other. The natives looked lean and melancholy, the 
cottages were mean and miserable, the blade grew brown and scanty, 
and the cattle found shelter from a storm that every minute threat- 
ened to place our feet upon the roof of our carriage, under shatter- 
ed stone walls. In the year 916 the Ostmen of Dublin wasted this 
island, from the centre to the extremities, with fire and sword, and it 
seems scarcely to have recovered the shock of such a devastation. 
Who would believe unless it were so well authenticated, that when 
Edward I conquered it, and made it one of the shires of Wales, its 
revenue was so considerable that Llewelyn, the last prince of Wales, 
paid a thousand pounds per annum for it to the king ? This island 
is proverbially called the Mother of Wales, and like many a mamma, 
has- felt the rifling hand of time upon her cheek, without looking 
lovely in decay, and is now only to be venerated for the blooming 
beauty of her daughter. 

The discovery made some years since of the copper mine en 
Paris or Praas (brass) Mountain in this island has been a source of 
great wealth to the earl of Uxbridge and Mr. Hughes, the proprie- 
tors. It is worked like a stone quarry in the open air, and has pro- 
Bhuced prodigious quantities of orej abounding with sulphur. The 
impure part of the ore is first calcined and deprived of its sulphur on 
the spot, and the purer part is exported raw to the smelting-houses 
at Swansea and other places. The richness and variety of its co- 
lours have given it the name of the peacock ore. 

In this island furze is cultivated from seed, and when young and 
tender the cattle feed upon it, a circumstance somewhat rare in ru- 
ral economy. At Gwindu, which is a very comfortable inn standing- 
alone, twelve miles from Holyhead, I passed the night, whilst wait- 
ing for a change of weather to embark. Here I met with a very- 
amiable and elegant Irish family, who in their vivacity and affability 
reminded me very much of the French, and of some happy scenes 



14 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

which I passed in their delightful country. With an admirable 
harper, as blind as Cupid, though not so handsome, and a merry 
dance, we set the raging elements at defiance ; the wind roared and 
the rain lashed the casement, whilst we went laughing, dancing, and 
singing vi ve la bagatelle to the stormy night. Whilst I was here, I 
amused myself with looking at a French and English dictionary, 
which had passed through its ninth edition, and found under the 
head of " Abbreviation of English Christian Names," the follow- 
ing : Johnny an abbreviation for John ; Robin for Robert ; Jemmy 
for James ; Jenny for Jane. I looked upon these lexicographical 
bulls as a tolerable good preparation for those which I was to meet 
with in Ireland. 

As the wind can always be ascertained at Gwindu, from its ele- 
vated situation and a lofty pole, surmounted by a weathercock, I ad- 
vise the traveller proceeding to Ireland, if the weather be adverse, 
to put up at this inn, and thank Heaven that he is not at Holyhead. 
The distant sound of the horn the next afternoon announced the ap- 
proach of the mail ; and about six o'clock, after passing some druidi- 
cal remains on our right, we reached Holyhead : a violent storm 
came on, and the master of the packet determined upon not sailing 
till the morning. 

Well cased in a surtout, I took a survey of Holyhead ; and al- 
though in foul weather the fairest scene looks somewhat sad, I in- 
ferred from the peculiarly gloomy aspect of this town, that in drea- 
riness it has not frequently a parallel. There are two inns heiwj 
both of them always crowded, on account of the packets, and neithep? 
of them very comfortable. It is scarcely possible to attend to the 
minuter wants of such a confluence of guests. The church is seat- 
ed upon a rock, close to the sea, and is dedicated to St. Kibius, who 
flourished here a short time since, as a Welsh genealogist would in- 
sist upon, viz. in the year 380. 

Holyhead is said to have been the principal residence of the 
Druids, and to have obtained the name of holy from the before-men- 
tioned saint, and by the Welsh is called Caer Cuby. Here the tra- 
veller is assailed by those detestable, corrupt harpies, called custom- 
house officers, merely because the sea divides one part of the united 



B u 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 15 

kingdom from- the other. It seems a solecism in legislation, that 
these rapacious and unpopular members of separate sovereignties 
should be permitted, after an act of incorporation, to annoy those 
who are quietly passing from one part of the empire to another. A 
receipt from the packet-master, for payment of the passage -money, 
ought to free the baggage of the passenger from molestation. As 
this pest, however, is permitted to exist, let me recommend the tra- 
veller to provide himself with a portmanteau instead of a box, as the 
former is never searched. The passage-money is a guinea ; and let 
me here also advise the passenger to take with him a little sea-store, 
as none, to my woful experience, is to be had on board, contrary to 
the usage of most packets. 

In the morning, about ten o'clock, after a very tempestuous night, 
which prevented our vessel from sailing, we were summoned by the 
steward to go onboard, for the wind was fair and fresh. Just as we 
were quitting the inn, one of the passengers, a jolly, thoughtless son 
of the ocean, who was going over to Ireland to take a sea-fencible 
command, roared out a thousand inverted blessings upon the head 
of a miserable little lean wretch, one of those personages of an inn 
who answer to the name of" boots." " Why, you little rascal, you 
" have brought me two right-legged boots ; where is my other boot ? 
" Get it instantly, or I will beat you as black as a mourning-coach." 
The miserable culprit went into every room in the house, but searched 
in vain for the brother of this unfortunate boot. In the mean time, 
mmons after summons came for this ill-starred gentleman, who was 
liged to walk down to the quay with a right-legged boot and a shoe 
on his feet, and another right-legged boot in his hand, to the no little 
amusement of us all, for it was to be classed amongst those disasters 
which Rochefoucault admits are more calculated to excite merriment 
than commiseration ; and we also could not help reflecting that some 
equally unlucky wight must be astonished to find himself, when he 
rose to his breakfast, in the possession of a pair of boots which would 
only suit the left leg. 

At ten o'clock in the morning, 



16 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

" the threaden sails, 
" Borne with invisible and creeping wind, 
" Drew the huge bottom through the furrow'd sea, 
" Breasting the lofty surge." 

The distance was only eighty miles to Ireland : the treacherous 
wind, at starting, promised to carry us over in nine hours, but violated 
its promise by, of all other causes of detention the most insipid, a 
dead calm, for two tedious days and nights, which was solely attri- 
buted by the sailors to our having a mitred prelate on board. Hun- 
ger succeeded sickness, and concluding, but groundlessly, that I could 
obtain whatever refreshment I might want on board, my situation, af- 
ter some suffering, would indeed have been unpleasant, had it not been 
relieved by a lady, who, projecting out of an adjoining cot one of the 
most pleasing and sensible faces I ever saw, invited me to partake of 
some excellent broiled slices of mutton . The Muse of Poetry has 
always been celebrated for her generosity. My fair neighbour 
proved to be, for the honour of Ireland, lady Tuite, the accomplished 
and elegant authoress of several charming poems, and particularly 
some beautiful well-known lines in reply to Mrs. Grenville's prayer 
for Indifference, one verse of which, united to the act of kindness 
which I have recorded, will prove that her ladyship is no friend to 
apathy. 



Shall she who, as the needle true, 
Was made to turn and tremble too, 

A gift so rare despise ; 
Shall she, intended but to please, 
Whose smile can Sorrow's bondage ease, 

Shall she Indifference prize ? 



i 



Do not, gentle reader, accuse me of being too prolix. I vowed 
upon the cabin table, with these most seasonable proofs of the fair 
lady's feelings before my eyes, to tell every one who might read me, 
that J was relieved from a gloomy dilemma by a lady of fashion, an 
Irishwoman, and a poetess. 

The hill of Howth is in sight. 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 17 



CHAPTER II. 

THE BAY OF DUBLIN DESCRIBED THE MOLE....FRIZE PORK..., 

AN ENGLISH AGRICULTURAL BULL. ...IRISH VIS-A-VIS. ...ANCIENT 
HISTORY OF IRELAND OMITTED.. ..NATIONS, LIKE INDIVIDUALS, 
PROUD OF ANCIENT GENE ALOGY... .THE FOUNTAIN... -STREET 
SOUNDS....J INGLES.... A CAR.... A NODDY.. ..THE IMPORTANT ACCE- 
LERATING AND RETARDING WORDS GEE AND WOO DISCUSSED 
,...A RAW.. ..DUBLIN BEGGARS. ...THE BLACK CART. ...MENDICANT 
WIT.. ..DRESS OF LOW IRISH. 

J\S we entered the bay of Dublin, a brilliant sun, and almost 
cloudless sky, unfolded one of the finest land and sea prospects I ever 
beheld. " The mountains showed their grey heads, the blue face of 
" Ocean smiled, the white wave was seen tumbling round the distant 
" rock." On the right was the rugged hill of Howth, with its rocky 
bays, wanting only a volcano to afford to the surrounding scenery 
the strongest resemblance, as I was well informed, to the beautiful, 
bay of Naples ; whilst, nearer to the eye, at the extremity of a white 
line of masonry, just fringing the sea, the light-house presented its 
alabaster front. On our left were the town of Dalkey, with its ro- 
mantic rocks, mutilated castles, martello towers, with their gay little 
streamers, elegant villas, and the picturesque town of Dunleary; 
whilst behind was seen a line of parks and plantations, above which 
the mountains of Wicklow ascend with the greatest majesty. Whilst. 
I stood enraptured with the richness of the scenery, a good-humoured 
Irish sailor came up to me, and, with a smile of delight, said, « By 
" Jasus, your honour! you're right there; it's God's own country ;" 
nodding at the same time at me. In this bay, that great man, dean 
Swift, received the most nattering honours that a grateful people 
could show to their favourite and friend ; several heads of the differ- 
ent corporations, and principal citizens of Dublin, went out in boats 

C 



18 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

adorned with colours, to welcome the dean back from England, 
preceded by his friend Dr. Sheridan, with the agreeable news, that 
his beloved Stella, who had been very ill, was recovered, and con- 
ducted him to his house amidst the acclamations of " Long live the 
" Drapieiy ' the name which he had assumed in a series of popular 
letters. 

As we proceeded, we passed through two great sand-banks called 
the North and South Bulls, which prevent large ships from crossing 
the bar, and render Dublin very incommodious for shipping. It 
was upon one of these banks that an outward bound packet was 
vTecked a few years since, when many lives were lost. During the 
horror of the scene, an instance of collected presence of mind occur- 
red, which is somewhat rare : a quaker, who was hanging in the 
shrouds, said to a fellow-sufferer, who was in momentary expectation 
of being entombed in the deep : " Friend, should we escape death 
i( this time, cans't thou inform me when the next Liverpool packet 
"will sail?" 

Tor want of towers and spires, the capital excites but little im- 
pression of its magnitude and consequence at a distance. The har- 
bour has been very much protected, on the south side of the river, 
by a prodigious mole or stone-wall, called the South Wall, formed 
of large blocks of mountain granite, braced with iron, and 
strongly cemented. This wonderful monument of human ingenuity 
and enterprize, which may rank with some of the finest remains of 
Roman magnificence, extends nearly three miles into the bay from 
Ringsend. From the king's watch-house it runs to the block-house, 
which is distant seven thousand nine hundred and thirty-eight feet ; 
and from thence to the light-house, at the extremity of the wall, nine 
thousand eight hundred and sixteen feet. It rises about five feet 
above high water, is nearly forty feet broad as far as the block-house, 
and from thence to the light-house twenty-eight feet broad, narrow- 
ing from a base of about thirty-two feet broad. This stupendous 
work was begun in 1748, and completed in seven years. As we 
turned the light-house, I was much gratified by its appearance : it is 
a round tower of white hewn granite, of three stories high, gradually 
tapering to the summit, on which is raised an octagonal lantern of 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 19 

eight windows, the powerful light of which is increased by reflecting; 
lenses. A stone staircase, with an iron ballustrade, winds round the 
building to the second story, where an iron gallery surrounds the 
whole. It was commenced on the first of June, 1762, in conse- 
quence of a statute of queen Anne, called the ballast act. By depo- 
siting huge rocks in a vast caissoon which was sunk in the sea, the 
ingenious architect, Mr. Smyth, has been able to raise this beautiful 
structure, and to give it the consistency of rock, in a situation pecu- 
liarly exposed to the raging elements. As we sailed in smooth water 
on the inner side of the mole, it strongly reminded me of passing by 
the wonderful embankments which I had seen on the sides of the 
Neva. Before I land, let me recommend the Union packet as infi- 
nitely the swiftest sailing vessel in the service. Our vessel was able 
to lie along-side of the Pidgeon-house, where we quitted that con- 
summation of human misery, a cabin after a short -voyage ; and, upon 
landing, after our luggage had again been submitted to search, and 
to an imposition of three shillings in the shape of a custom-house 
fee, we entered a long coach, drawn by four wretched horses, which 
attends upon the packets, and proceeded towards the capital, distant 
about three miles. Reader, if you love a laugh as well as I do, you 
will not be offended with me if I relate, that two Scotsmen, who 
appeared to be enthusiastic agriculturists of the modern school, 
committed their niece, one of the lovely daughters of green Erin 
(and indeed she was very beautiful), to my care in the carriage, there 
being no room for them ; that, finding she had a bundle, I begged 
and prevailed upon her to let me bear it upon my lap for her, in which 
situation it had not been placed above ten minutes, before it began 
to stream with perspiration, and proved to be, to the cost of my pan- 
taloons, a large piece of prize-pork, which her uncles, in their rage 
for fattening cattle, had brought over from England as a precious 
relic of their favourite system. The Irish Mill have a fair retaliat- 
ing laugh at us, when they hear that the secretary of a celebrated 
English agricultural society received orders from its committe to 
procure several copies of Mr. and Miss Edgeworth's Essay on Irish 
Bulls, upon the first appearance of that admirable book, for the use 
of the members, in their labours for improving the breed of cattle. 



20 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

A stranger, in his progress from the Pidgeon-house to the capital, 
cannot fail of being shocked by a sudden contrast to the beautiful 
scenes he has just quitted, exhibited in a little town called Ringsend, 
*one of the most horrible sinks of filth I ever beheld. Every house 
swarmed with ragged, squalid tenantry, and dung and garbage lay 
in heaps in the passages, and upon the steps leading to the cellars : 
that such a nuisance should be permitted to remain in the neigh- 
bourhood of such a city is astonishing. Upon the road we saw several 
carriages peculiar to the country ; that which struck me most was the 
jaunting car, an open carriage, mounted upon two small wheels, 
drawn by one horse, in which the company sit back to back, and hence 
the Irish, in badinage, call it an Irish vis-a-vis ; whilst, on the other 
hand, considering the position of the parties and of the coachman, 
who is elevated in front, I have heard it more appropriately, though 
less delicately, nominated the cul-a-cul. This carriage is very con- 
venient and easy, and will carry six persons besides the coachman. It 
much resembles the Russian carriage called the droshka. The en- 
trance to the capital was through one of the barriers which were 
erected in the rebellion over one of the canals, which form an admi- 
rable protection to the city ; and, after passing through several noble 
streets, we stopped at the mail-coach office, and I proceeded to the 
Royal Hotel in Kildare-street. 

As I passed along, I could not help reflecting upon the ridiculous 
misrepresentations which have so strong a tendency to divide men 
from each other, and to perpetuate the antipathy which frequently 
too fatally separates one country from another. It was not above 
forty years since that an English nobleman, who was compelled, on 
account of the settlement of some large estates, to pass some time in 
Ireland, ordered his avant-courier to hire for him one of the best 
houses in Dublin, and to take especial care that it was not thatched. 
In Spenser's time, the wilu\ Irish were believed to have wings sprout- 
ing from their shoulders, and it was lawful to shoot them like any 
other wild winged animal; and even to the present moment, the 
genuine character of the Irish is but little known to their brethren op 
this side of the water. 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 21 

As sir Isaac Newton has set his face against the authority of tra- 
dition beyond one hundred years of age, I shall not detain the reader 
to inquire whether Jason and the Argonauts sailed from the Bos- 
phorus to Ireland, or whether the neighbouring nations received 
their alphabets through the medium of that country, or whether the 
Irish are descended from Magog the son of Japhet, the son of Noah. 
whether O'Brien Boroimhe overwhelmed and expelled the Thuatha 
d'ha Denan with all the artillery of their magic and witcheries. I 
would disturb no people in their fancy for national antiquity and pre- 
eminence. In God's name let the Peruvians derive themselves from 
the sun; let the Chinese boast of the existence of their empire eight 
thousand years before the creation of the world according to our cal- 
culation; let the Laplander, uncontravened, maintain that his dusky 
groves, shut up for nine months in polar winter, are the most rural 
in the world, and that the only honest men and good strawberries, 
created or grown, are to be found in this country. If the Irish pre- 
fer a Carthaginian origin, and the honour of having peopled Scotland, 
instead of being derived from her, or from Great Britain, or any other 
country, let her enjoy all the happiness attached to the origin she 
prefers. However powerful or weak her pretensions to Milesian 
pedigree may be, for, being no antiquarian, I care but little for the 
matter ; this I know, that if she were not. able to push her genealogy 
beyond a century, she would at least be, as the chief of her orators, 
Grattan, has finely said, " like some men, possessed of certain pow- 
u ers, who distinguish the place of their nativity, instead of being 
u distinguished by it. They do not receive, they give birth to the 
" place of their residence, and vivify the region which is about them." 

My attempt is to sketch the modern Irish, and principally to de- 
scribe what I saw. I leave Vallency, Ledwich, and Walker, to settle 
their dispute with Time, for having, by their learning and ingenuity, 
disarmed him of half his power. 

Having performed those ablutions which are so doubly gratifying 
after a voyage, I traversed as much of the city as I could before 
dinner, and found myself in Merrion-square, three sides of which are 
composed of very handsome brick houses, ^nd one side is occupied 
by Leinster-house and grounds, belonging to the duke of that name, 



22 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND, 

and the only personage of that rank in Ireland. This square is 
planted, railed round, paved, and lighted, in a very handsome manner, 
and will not lose by a comparison with Cavendish-square in London. 
In the centre of one side of the railing is a public fountain, decorated 
with the statue of a fountain-nymph, under whom is inscribed, " To 
" the memory of Charles Manners, duke of Rutland, whose heart was 
« as susceptible of the wants of his fellow-creatures, as his purse was 
" open to relieve them, this fountain for the use of the poor is dedi- 
" cated : at his command it was undertaken, and at his sole expence 
" it would have been erected, had not premature death suddenly de- 
" prived the poor of their best benefactor, and the rich of their 
" brightest example." This valuable monument, and the place of its 
erection, being opposite to Leinster-house, once the paternal roof of 
the unfortunate lord Edward Fitzgerald, brought to my recollection a 
beautiful and affecting rhetorical figure used by that great ornament 
of the Irish bar, Curran, in defending his lordship's widow, the cele- 
brated Pamela, and her infant children, at the bar of the Irish House 
of Commons. " If," said he, " the widowed mother should carry the 
" orphan heir of her unfortunate husband to the gate of any man, 
" he would feel himself touched with the sad vicissitudes of human 
" affairs ; he would feel a compassionate reverence for the noble 
" blood that flowed in his veins, that like a rich stream rose, till it ran,, 
" and hid its fountain.'''' 

After roving through many noble streets^ similar in character and 
beauty to those of the better parts of London, and being frequently 
struck with the novel sounds of, " Blood and ounds, make haste, Pat, 
" by my faith and shoui," I reached a jingle stand, and having heard 
much of this carriage, in company with a friend I mounted one, and 
took a drive upon a noble road for about two miles. This carriage 
resembles as much of a coach as remains after the doors, and the 
upper sides, and roof are removed, and is mounted very high upon 
four large slender wheels. Its motion produces a rattling noise, which 
ft] rni she s i' r, name : it is drawn by one miserable looking horse, who^e 
fate-it is frequently to pull after him, upon a smart trot, his driver 
■ ;crs. On the road I met one of them quite full, which, 
.1 a little di >wmg to the poor animal being enveloped in the 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 23 

fog of his own perspiration, made the passengers appear as if they 
were impelled by steam. The principal stand of these carriages is at 
the end of Bagot-street : they are numbered, and the drivers are sub- 
ject to the control of the police for improper behaviour. They gene- 
rally run to the Pidgeon-house, and to the Black-rock, and back 
again. The fare is sixpence only for each person, provided there is 
a complement of passengers ; so that those who will not pay for the 
deficiency of the necessary number, must " sit, like Patience upon a 
" monument," till the vehicle b filled. These carriages, wretched 
as they look, are very convenient, and persons of the first respectabi- 
lity frequently ride in them. Away rolled Pat, my friend, and I. 
All the drivers, and almost every low Irishman, is called Pat, an abbre- 
viation of Paddy, a popular christian name, derived from St. Patrick, 
the tutelar saint of Ireland, who had the honours of canonization 
decreed to him, for having, amongst other notable things which I 
shall hereafter have occasion to enumerate, illustrated the trinity by 
a shamrock or trefoil. No one who believes in the actual and bona 
fide existence of Minerva, the guardian of Athens ;. of Juno, the pro- 
tectress of Carthage ; of Mars, the celestial friend of Rome : in short, 
no one but a most incorrigible disbeliever can doubt that the good 
and great St. Patrick was a tangible being. And here, for they must 
not be separated, let me introduce to the reader the immaculate Bri- 
gid, the virgin saint of Ireland, who, like Vesta, was formerly wor- 
shipped by her nuns with unextinguished fires ; but the modern Irish 
ladies approach her altars with a more acceptable sacrifice, with 
chastity instead of celibacy : but more of this hereafter. On the road 
Ave saw a poor jingle horse, which had been turned out to batten upon, 
the sorry weed of the ditch, lying, as I thought, for ever removed 
from all the future toils of so wretched a destiny. " Poor animal !'* 
said I, " he's dead." " And plaze your honour," said Pat, " he is not 
" dead entirely*' 

On the road we met several cars, which are used as common 
carts. This carriage, which is drawn by one horse, is very low, 
mounted upon wheels of about two feet in diameter, made out of one 
or two pieces of wood, fixed either on an iron or wooden axle-tree. 
which turns round with them, and will carry about the load of three 



24 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

English wheel-barrows. A noddy also passed us : this carriage is 
now somewhat rare. It is an old, battered single-horse chaise, with 
the head up, having a seat for Pat upon the shafts, who is so placed 
that he retaliates upon his passenger, for the rump of the horse being 
placed close to his very mouth. As this machine moves, it nods; 
and hence, as the Irish are always descriptive in their expressions, 
I presume its name: these are all the carriages peculiar to the 
country. 

The hackney-coaches are similar to those in London, but infinitely 
inferior in ease and cleanliness. Some wag has written, that the 
hackney-coach drivers of Dublin use very long poles in their coaches, 
at the end of which they fasten a bundle of hay out of the reach of 
the horse, by which ingenious arrangement the animal advances 
with increased ardour in the constant pursuit of food which he is sel- 
dom permitted to taste : this picture is utterly false. The horses, 
however, are very poor ; and the whole establishment calls loudly 
for the ameliorating hand of the civil government. 

It ought to be observed, that the Irish horse is singularly hardy j 
and to be very high in bone is no proof of weakness. In the city, 
mules are very common, and they were in general in good condition. 
The Irish drivers set their horses in motion much in the same way 
as we do, by the word " gee," an important word which, as well as 
that of " whoa," have been too much in constant use to have had 
much illustration. Dr. Johnson defines the accelerating word "gee" 
to be " a term amongst waggoners, to make their horses go faster;'* 
but does not recur to the radical word. Ge, or geh, seems to be the 
imperative of the German verb gehen, to go ; a word by which, with 
an accompanying stroke of the whip, a horse thoroughly understands 
that he is to advance. The retarding word " whoa," we are told, was 
formerly applied to valorous knights and combatants in armour, or 
harness, as it was called, and hence degraded to horses in harness. 
When the king, as president at tilts and tournaments, threw down 
his baton as the signal of discontinuance, the heralds cried out, in the 
Danish language, to the combatants, " ho," that is, stop. When a 
jingle-driver wishes his horse to go to the right, he cries " hup, hup ;" 
when to the left, " wey, wey ;" and when to stop, " phthrowh." The 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 25 

jingle-drivers frequently make one pound eleven shillings and six- 
pence by driving persons on a Sunday to the Black-rock, a distance 
of about five English miles from the city. When these fellows cut 
a horse to the flesh, which is not often the case, they call it " establish" 
" ing a raw." 

We had not proceeded an Irish mile, eleven of which are equal 
to fourteen English, before Pat stopped, and said, " Plaze your 
u honours, I will not drive your honours any farther, unless you give 
" me another hog." Knowing the word in its usual acceptation only, 
we thought proper to alight ; and having paid him what he at first 
demanded, which was, as we afterwards found, thrice as much as his 
fare, we descended, and in learning what a hog was, we obtained the 
nature of the currency of Ireland, which consists, 

1st. Of a copious effusion of paper, from a guinea note to seve- 
ral thousand pounds. 

2d. English guineas, seldom seen out of the north of Ireland, 
worth one pound two shillings and nine-pence Irish each. 

3d. Dollars worth five shillings and fivepence Irish each. 

4th. Silver bank tokens of six shillings Irish each. 

5th. Silver bank tokens, called tenpenny and fivepenny pieces^ 
worth so much Irish each. 

6th. Hogs, or shillings, sometimes called thirteens, worth thir- 
teen pence Irish each. 

7th. Pigs, or testers, worth sevenpence Irish each. 

8th. Penny, half-penny, and farthing pieces, a very recent and 
handsome coinage. — For reasons which will hereafter appear, as long 
as any difference of exchange continues above par, it will be advise- 
able for those who visit Ireland, either to draw on England if they 
are known, or to take over guineas. 

Although the beneficence of the country has provided so many 
comfortable asylums for the beggars of Dublin, they are numerous 
and wretched beyond conception: I think more so than in the 
provinces of France. Their dress is deplorably filthy, and induced 
a wit to say, that he never knew what the beggars of London did 
with their cast off clothes, till he found that they were sold to the 
Dublin beggars. I have heard of a wandering wretch, who, in 

D 



26 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

passing over a corn-field, thought himself very fortunate in ex- 
changing breeches with a mawkin or scarecrow, set up to frighten 
away the birds ; and such seems to be the condition of those men- 
dicants. Their perseverance is generally irresistible. 

Some of the police with a black covered cart occasionally go 
found the city to pick up such mendicants as do not disappear as 
the terrific vehicle turns the corner of a street, and convey them to 
the house of industry, from which they escape the first opportunity. 
They prefer a precarious crust of bread steeped in tears with liberty, 
to comfort and protection in the shape of restraint. In London we 
Jiave many sights of sorrow before us, but they are generally con- 
fined to certain parts of the town ; whereas in Dublin they affect the 
eyes, and ears, and disfigure the beauty of this superb city every 
where. As the present arrangements are so inadequate, the legis- 
lature cannot direct its eye with too much ardour and anxiety to the 
subject. To that legislature the poor mendicant may say, in the 
language of Shakespeare, 

" You taught me first to beg ; and now, methinks, 
*' You teach me how a beggar should be answered." 

The native wit and humour of the low Irish is singularly happy. 
A beggar had been for a long time besieging an old, gouty, testy, 
limping gentleman, who refused his mite with great irritability, 
upon which the mendicant said, " Ah, plaze your honour's honour, 
" I wish God had made your heart as tender as your toes" Many 
of these poor creatures, to secure a decent interment, respecting 
which the low Irish are very tenacious, With a spirit of hospitality 
beyond the grave, implore the aid of alms to purchase a coffin 
for themselves, and candles, pipes, tobacco, and whiskey for their 
mourning friends* 

As the dress of Pat is pretty nearly the same from Dublin to 
Galway, and from Fairhead to Bantry, and has continued so for 
ages, one description will be sufficient, and I shall take it from 
Spenser in his Review of Ireland : It is a long loose coat, or mantle, 
made of woollen, of stone-colour, which Pat always wears alike in the 
nipping winter and the sultry summer, 'and of which the poet, with 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND, 27 

some bitterness of spirit, thus speaks : " It is a fit house for an out- 
f* law, a meet bed for a rebel, and an apt cloak for a thief : first, the 
" outlaw being, for his many crimes and villanies, banished from 
" the towns and houses of honest men, and wandering in waste places 
" far from danger of law, maketh his mantle his house, and under it 
" covereth himself from the wrath of Heaven, from the offence of the 
" earth, and from the sight of man. When it raineth, it is his pent? 
" house ; when it bloweth, it is his tent ; when it freezeth, it is his 
• tabernacle. In summer he can wear it loose, in winter he can 
" wrap it close : at all times he can use it ) never heavy, never cum- 
" bersome. Likewise for a rebel it is as serviceable ; for in this 
" war that he maketh (if at least it deserves the name of war), when 
" he still flieth from his foe, and lurketh in the thick woods and 
« strait passages, waiting for advantages, it is his bed, yea, and al- 
« most his household stuff." The lower order of women are also 
very fond of a long great coat, with many capes. 



28 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 



CHAPTER III. 

*RIEF ACCOUNT OF DUBLIN. ...ITS PROGRESSIVE IMPROVEMENT 
....PARISHES.. ...TEWS. ...DEFECTIVE STATE OF ITS ECCLESIAS- 
TICAL ESTABLISHMENT.. ..ITS POPULATION... .THE FAMILY 
BIBLE.. ..NECESSARY WEAPON FOR A TRAVELLER IN IRELAND 
....NEWSPAPER MURDERS... .STATE OF THE QUARTERS OF THE 
POOR. ...AFFECTING PICTURE. ...IRISH PHILANTHROPY. ...THE 
GLOVE SHOP..,. DEPLORABLE STATE OF THE COIN. ...ABSEN- 
TEES... .DISTRESSING ANECDOTES. ...HIGH STATE OF EX- 
CHANGE. ...ATTEMPT TO DEVELOPE ITS CAUSE. ...A FEW SUG- 
GESTIONS OFFERED FOR ITS REMOVAL. 

DUBLIN may take a high rank amongst the finest cities of 
the earth. It covers an area of rather more than one thousand four 
hundred and sixty -four acres, and is considered to be about seven 
Irish miles in circumference. In the year 964, in the preface to 
king Edgar's charters, she is styled "the most noble city of 
« Dublin." After undergoing a variety of progressive improve- 
ments, in the year 1610 the river Liffey was embanked on the 
southern side only, with quays ; the ground called the Bachelor's 
Walk, the Inn's quay, Ellis's quay, Arran quay, the two Ormond 
quays, east and west of Essex bridge, to an extent of about a mile 
and a half, on which are now erected many noble houses, were at 
that period covered with mud, and overflowed by the tides : the 
whole of the foundation of that superb building, the Four Courts of 
Justice, opposite to Merchant's quay, is built upon piles. We find 
also at this period, that that part of the city called Osmontown, or 
Oxmantown, was terminated to the last by Mary Abbey : that on 
the other side to the West Church-street and Michan's Church, were 
the bounds. Stoney-batter, now called Manor-street, Grange Gor- 
man, and Glasmanogue, now a part of the city, were inconsiderable' 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 29 

distant villages, and so far was the latter from the capital, that in the 
time of the plague the sheriffs of Dublin held their courts there. 
At the same period, Temple-bar, Crane-lane, Fleet-street, Lazar's 
hill, &c, now called South Townsend-street, Crampton, Aston's, 
George's, and sir John Rogerson's quays, on the south side of the 
Liffey, had not emerged from the water; and George's quay and 
many acres^extending to Ringsend bridge, were only rescued from 
the same element within the last century. On the north side, Dame- 
street contained only a small collection of buildings, and terminated 
at the Augustine monastery, opposite to the end of George-lane, 
which was nearly the extent of the suburbs to the east. The city is 
nearly square, is mostly on a level, but compared with the surround- 
ing country is rather low. It is watered by the river Liffey, which 
rises about four or five miles westward from the capital, and after 
nearly surrounding, with the most beautiful meanders, the county 
of Kildare, intersects almost equally the city, where it much resem- 
bles the Seine, as many parts of Dublin through which it flows do 
the quay Voltaire, quay Malaquais, and the quay de Conti, and 
other quarters of Paris. 

The number of parishes in Dublin is nineteen. The churches 
of the parishes of St. Nicholas without the walls, and St. Michael's, 
are in ruins, and the parish of St. Peter's has two churches ; there- 
fore the number of churches is at present eighteen : the church of 
St. George, included in this number, is not yet finished ; it promises 
to be an elegant edifice : to these places of public worship belong- 
ing to the establishment, may be added the College-chapel, Blue- 
Coat-Hospital-chapel, Royal-Hospital-chapel, Stephen's-Hospital- 
chapel, Magdalen- Asylum-chapel, Lying-in-Hospital-chapel, Bethes- 
da-chapel, and the Foundling-Hospital-chapel. 

The quakers have two meeting-houses in Dublin, the congrega- 
tions' of which amount to between six and seven hundred souls. 
The quakers scattered over the island are about five thousand, with 
about one thousand who frequent their meeting-houses, but are not 
in society. It is a singular circumstance, that in Dublin there are 
only three Jewish families, and it is believed that they have not at 
any period been more numerous, nor, as far as 'I could learn, have 



30 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

they ever had a synagogue. In the cities of Cork, Waterford, 
Limerick, and Belfast, Jews are to be found, but in no part of the 
country of Ireland. Last year a foreign Jew from Konigsburg, 
upon his conforming, was baptized. There are four meeting-houses 
for methodists, one for anabaptists, one for French Jutherans, fifteen 
Roman catholic chapels, a church for French calvinists, a Danish, 
and Dutch church. Its parochial division is very unequal. The 
parish of St. Catherine, the largest and nearly the poorest, compre- 
hends one hundred and twelve acres, and about twenty thousand one 
hundred and seventy-six inhabitants ; St. Nicholas within five acres, 
and about one thousand one hundred inhabitants ; and St. Peter's 
spreads over an area of one hundred and forty-one acres, including its 
squares, and about sixteen thousand and sixty -three inhabitants. The 
unequal duties of the clergy may be easily inferred from this statement, 
which are rendered the more oppressive, on account of the compen- 
sation for their services being very inadequate. The limits of pa- 
rishes are so irregular, that small streets frequently contribute to the 
support of three different ministers, as is the case with the quarter 
called the Poddle. The country parishes vary still more from one to 
thirty miles. The most populous parishes are within the walls of 
the ancient city, viz. the parishes of St. Michael, St. Nicholas within, 
St. Werburgh, St. John, the deanery of Christ's church, and the east- 
ern part of St. Audeon. 

The following is a lamentable picture of the defective state of the 
church -establishment in Ireland. There are two thousand four hun- 
dred and thirty-six parishes, one thousand and one churches, and only 
three hundred and fifty-five glebe or parsonage-houses. The bene- 
fices or union-parishes amount to one thousand one hundred and 
twenty: so that there are two thousand and eighty -one parishes 
without any residence for the clergymen, and one thousand four hun- 
dred and thirty-five parishes without any churches. Where there 
are no glebe-houses, the resident clergyman rents a house ; where he 
does not reside his curate performs the service, and, I was informed, 
with tolerable regularity : but the inconvenience must be great, and 
residence from necessity rare. 

The paving of Dublin commenced in 177 4>. There were no 
houses of brick or stone (except some poor religious houses) before 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 31 

the reign of Henry the second. The population of Dublin was de- 
termined from actual enumeration in the year 1798 ; and by the con^. 
servators of the peace in 1 804, was found to amount to one hundred 
and eighty-two thousand three hundred and seventy souls. Since 
that period seven hundred houses have been built, which are tenant- 
ed. Seven thousand souls, or ten to a house, may at least be gene- 
rally allowed, giving a total of one hundred and eighty -nine thousand 
three hundred and seventy ; but as this average of ten to a house is • 
below that of Dublin at large, which is between eleven and twelve, 
and as the population of the castle is not included, the population of 
Dublin may be safely taken at one hundred and ninety thousand, in- 
cluding the garrison. The difficulty of obtaining a correct account 
of the population of Ireland is great, on account of there being no 
registers of births, marriages, and deaths kept, except in Dublin, 
and even there I was informed they were kept very irregularly. A 
friend of mine from Ireland, in order to prove in the court of Chan- 
cery here, that a ward of his was of age, was obliged to produce the 
great family bible, as the only document that afforded him data of 
the event. The increase of population in the capital has been pro- 
gressive. In 1682, sir William Petty tells us there were thirteen 
parishes, including the two deaneries of Christ-church and St.Patrick ; 
that there were but four thousand families, which at eight in each 
family, made thirty -two thousand souls. Since he wrote, three 
parishes have been added, viz. St. Catherine's, mentioned before, con- 
taining twenty thousand one hundred and seventy-six inhabitants, St. 
Michael's eighteen thousand and ninety-two inhabitants, and St. 
Mary's above sixteen thousand inhabitants. The causes of this in- 
crease are various: for above a century after the revolution, the 
island enjoyed the repose of peace ; agriculture, manufactures, com 
merce, and all the other arts and blessings of tranquillity, 'i i% 
happiness over the face of the land. As wealth increased i Jlcted - 
dour of the viceregal court expanded, and at*r- ' j ^ cS unusuaily 
erratic native nobility; the professors of the '^ nt P arts of the cit >' 
plied with the wealth of the state; the d the back-yards of the 
learning, were filled with students :. iumber °* tnese streets, with 
ed, as when she retained and cor tenanted by little shopkeepers, 

E 



32 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

lure of Rome, after the west of Europe had been overshaded by the 
darkness of the Gothic invader ; she became again, " the school of 
" the west, the quiet habitation of sanctity and literature." These 
were all fruitful sources for enlarging the metropolis. Many of the 
streets are very superb. Sackville and Westmoreland-streets and 
Cavendish-row, may vie with any in London for their size and beauty: 
and most of the streets in the neighbourhood of Mountjoy and Rut- 
land-squares in the north, and of St. Stephen's green and Merrion- 
square in the south, are very handsome. The greater portion of the 
city is well paved and lighted, but in general very badly cleansed. 
The principal fuel is Newcastle coal, and turf trom the bog of Allen. 

Dame-street is the great focus of fashion, bustle, and business, 
and is lined with noble shops and buildings. It is the Rue St. Ho- 
nore of Paris, and the Bond-street of London ; and the beauty of the 
principal streets of Dublin is not disfigured as in London by an inter- 
mixture of butchers', fishmongers', and poulterers' stalls, which are 
confined to certain quarters of the town. This arrangement adds 
greatly to the beauty of the city. The number of houses which has 
been built since the union amounts to about one thousand. I found 
that the price of middling houses had considerably increased, and that 
of large ones had much diminished since that epoch. The union in- 
evitably attracted a number of men of rank, wealth, and fashion, to 
England, who have not been succeeded by an increase of persons of 
their own degree and resources to purchase their vacant houses at 
their own price, whilst the spirit and the means of the trading part of 
the community have increased to a degree developed by the great ad- 
dition of buildings above stated. Of the principal public buildings I 
shall speak in the order of my visiting them. At night the city is 
admirably watched and patroled. Most of the watchmen are armed 
wiu. nius ^ ets> others with a pike having a curved knife, and the rob- 
dred aw,;^ occur are very rare : indeed, whilst I am upon this sub- 
are no glebe-nw -^ t j iat m tlie course f mv tour through different 
does not reside his cu..^ j was f re q Ue ntly alone, and had no other 
with tolerable regularity : neyer met wkh the sligbtest mo lestation. 
residence from necessity rare, ^redations which are stated to have 

The paving of Dublin com,^ time pastj have been manu fac~ 
houses of brick or stone (except so. 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 33 

tured by the editors^ of English newspapers, to fill up a vacancy in 
their prints. Upon these occasions, Limerick and its neighbourhood 
are generally selected for the scene of blood and outrage. The arrival 
of the mail frequently astonishes some of the inhabitants with an 
account of their own throats having been cut, their cattle houghed, 
and their houses plundered. This selection is rather an unfortunate 
one, as Limerick, since the year 1798, has been particularly free from 
any spirit hostile to the repose of society. 

The city is now plentifully supplied with water, but it is not near 
so pure and excellent as it was about sixty years since: it was then 
supplied by a fine mountain stream called Temple-ogo water, col- 
lected into the bason in St. James's-street : the river Liffey, dammed 
up above Island-bridge, now Sarah-bridge, also supplied the town 
with water ; but the population increasing, these supplies were insuf- 
ficient, and the proper officers contracted with the grand canal com- 
pany to unite their water with the city bason, and it became necessary 
to cut off part of the bason for the convenience of the canal, by which 
the beauty of the bason was quite destroyed. The canal-water pas- 
sing over such a variety of soil, may imbibe some impurities, which 
however cannot fail of being corrected by the quantity of rain which 
falls. 

The public buildings which embellish the capital are very mag- 
nificent ; I shall attempt to describe them in the order m which I 
visited them. As I have mentioned the nobler parts of the city, it is 
with no little degree of pain that I step from the sunshine into the 
shade, to advert to the quarters of the poor, which I believe have no 
parallel in London, and demand the immediate attention of the go- 
vernment, which has, or ought to have been, most powerfully excited 
by the labours of the Rev. James Whiteiaw, M. R. I. A., which were 
laid before the public in 1798, since which he assures me no steps 
have been taken to remove or assuage the misery he has depicted. 
The poorer parts of Dublin are pregnant with nuisances unusualiy 
destructive to health and comfort. In the ancient parts of the city 
the streets are generally very narrow, and the back-yards of the 
houses very confined. The greater number of these streets, with 
their numerous lanes and alleys, are tenanted by little shopkeepers, 

E 



34 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

the labouring poor, artel beggars, crowded together to a degree pain> 
ful and affecting to reflection. Mr. Whitelaw states, in his admi- 
rable Essay on the Population of Dublin, that a single apartment in 
one of these truly wretched habitations lets from one to two shillings 
per week, and, to lighten this rent, two, three, and even four families, 
become joint tenants ; he also mentions that a house in Braithwaite- 
street, some years since, contained one hundred and eight souls; 
and that in July, 1798, the entire side of a house, four stories high, 
in School-house-lane, fell from its foundation into an adjoining yard, 
where it destroyed an entire dairy of cows ; that he ascended the 
remaining ruin, through the usual approach of shattered stairs, 
stench, and filth ; that the floors had sunk on the side then unsup- 
ported, forming so many inclined planes; that he observed, with 
astonishment, that the inhabitants, above thirty in number, who had 
escaped destruction by the circumstance of the wall falling outwards, 
had not deserted their apartments. In the course of his investiga- 
tion, he unfolds some truly shocking circumstances of extreme 
misery. 

With respect to parochial schools, the same enlightened and hu- 
mane author observes, that there are parishes the most opulent, 
which, from their total neglect, or languid efforts, seem unconscious 
that poverty and ignorance have an existence within their pale. 
That one parish, conscious of its utter inability to form, unaided, any 
establishment, seems to have relinquished the idea in despair ; whilst 
in three others, their utmost exertions are scarcely more than suffi- 
cient to supply a scanty salary to the master of a day-school, with 
clothing for a very limited number of children. That these, unpro- 
vided with food or lodging, must of course, after school-hours, min- 
gle with the idle, the profligate, and the profane ; among whom, un- 
fortunately, may be often numbered their own parents : that the utter 
inability of these neglected portions of the capital is visible in the 
wretched state of their school-houses, which are situated in the midst 
of an extremely compressed popirtation, in narrow streets or filthy 
lanes, without any back-yards. That in seven of the parochial schools 
the complete separation of the sexes was neglected, and that no less 
than eight of them had no play-ground, except a church-yard. 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 35 

Mr. Whitelaw informs me that the present number of parochial 
schools is eighteen : Peter's parish having two, and the parishes of 
St. James and St. Luke not having any. That of St. George has 
been erected since he wrote, and is in its infancy. To remedy the 
defect stated, Mr. Whitelaw proposes, that in the place of seventeen 
parochial, four general schools should be established ; two exclusively 
for males, and two for femaJes, each to contain one hundred and 
twenty children. That these should be built in the suburbs, in 
healthy, airy situations, with large play-grounds ; that to each should 
be annexed a small infirmary, with a cold-bath ; that these schools 
should be supported in the usual manner by charity-sermons, and 
subscriptions in the different parishes, and that each parish should 
be entitled to send to these schools a number in proportion to its 
poor protestant population, and not to the extent of its contribution. 
The commissioners of inquiry into the state of the accounts and 
conduct of the corporation for paving, lighting, and cleansing Dublin 
have made their report to the imperial parliament, with all the energy 
due to such a subject, and have established the deplorable picture 
contained in Mr. Whitelaw's Essay, upon the oath of witnesses. 
To such an appeal the government can never turn a deaf ear. The 
fever-hospital answers the sanguine expectations of the public, and 
has effectually checked fevers among the poor. It is spacious, clean, 
airy, and well arranged, contains eighty beds, and, though its dis- 
trict has been extended to the entire south side of the LifTey, not 
more than sixty of these beds have been at any time occupied. Its 
revenues are ample, and its managers indefatigable. There is also 
another fever-hospital on the north side of the Liffey. 

I may have been a little prolix in my endeavours to enforce the 
sagacious remarks of this friend of humanity, and I am sure my hu- 
mane reader will not blame me. I know not in what terms of admi- 
ration to speak of this reverend philanthropist. For the noble pur- 
pose of unfolding to the eyes of the affluent and powerful, wretch- 
edness the most abject and forlorn, of resuscitating slothfulness, of 
reclaiming depravity, of opening the hot-bed of insurrectional want 
and ignorance to the guardian eye of the police, and of aiding- the 
revenue of the state, he quitted his abode cf affluence and happiness, 



36 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

and in the sultry summer months of 1798,unpatroiiized, unsolicited, 
attended only by assistants in his great scheme of mercy and bene- 
volence, who were paid out of his own purse, unawed by the dread of 
contagion, and by the sights of woe that lay before him, as the faith- 
ful minister of his God, under His protection, and as the ardent friend 
Of the outcast of his kind, penetrated the dismal, unheeded, and un- 
frequented recesses of famine, disease, darkness, and despair. The 
results of his labours, characterized by judgment, perspicuity, and 
benevolence, have been submitted to the public ; and if they have 
not been follower! by the good which was their sole aim and object, 
they have at least endeared him, not only to his country, but to all 
who can feel and appreciate the extent and motive of his action. To 
men so constituted and so disposed, the traveller turns with delight: 
they are objects more worthy of beholding, and more interesting, 
than the most graceful relics of the taste and genius of other ages. 

Since Mr. Whitelaw wrote, a. very fine charter-school has been 
established in Bagot-street, nearly on the banks of the canal, for 
sixty girls. To this school, in which the rooms are spacious and 
airy, girls, when of a proper age and state of improvement, are re* 
moved from the different schools belonging to the corporations in 
various parts of Ireland ; here their education is finished, and from 
hence they are apprenticed to proper protestant masters and mis- 
tresses, an object which was found difficult of attainment in the dis- 
tant parts of the kingdom, where protestants are comparatively few. 
As this school is under the immediate inspection of the governor, it 
is well conducted; and not only the moral and religious instructions 
of the children, but habits of industry are deeply impressed. 

Upon entering a shop to purchase a pair of gloves, I observed, 
With no little degree of curiosity, that, upon my presenting the mo- 
ney for them, my fair shopkeeper placed a little brass weighing-ma- 
chine upon the counter, and weighed my shillings, all of which, 
as well as four or five more which I had in my purse, proved to be 
deficient in weight. 

Nothing can impress a stranger more forcibly than the want of 
a mint coinage in Ireland, and (with an exception to certain portions 
in the north) the deplorable want of metallic specie throughout that 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 37 

country, to which may be added the exorbitant state of the exchange 
between the two countries. 

The production of a guinea, in many parts of Ireland, excites as 
much curiosity as the display of a ruble or a sicca rupee would. Up- 
on the arrival of the first of those precious coins in Dublin, it speedily 
finds its way either to the banker's counter, or to shops called specie 
shops, over the doors of which is written, " Guineas bought and sold 
" here, and bank notes exchanged for guineas." Here a guinea, ex- 
changed for a bank of Ireland guinea note, was some time since resold 
at one pound three shillings, and one pound three shillings and six- 
pence: at present it is at one shilling, which is low. Small bank of 
England notes, from one to ten pounds, are at a premium propor- 
tionate to guineas, being equally useful to travellers. Larger bank of 
England bills bear the same price as merchants' bills on London. 

The north of Ireland is principally supplied with guineas from 
Dublin, where they are now so scarce, notwithstanding their pre- 
mium being low, that it is with difficulty they can be procured in 
quantities sufficient for travelling expences. The scarcity of this 
coin cannot be a matter of surprise, when, in addition to the act for 
restraining payments in specie, it appears that one person alone, be- 
tween the years 1799 and 1804, purchased a million and a quarter, 
one million of which was sold for the purpose of exportation ; and 
some of the absentee landlords still persist in making, as far as they 
can, their tenants pay their rents in specie. 

The want of silver specie is more particularly lamentable and 
embarrassing beyond imagination. Many of the great quantity of 
base shillings in circulation are not intrinsically worth fourpence ; but 
if they are of sufficient weight, or what is admitted to be so by tacit 
consent, viz. two pennyweights, and sixteen grains and a half, and 
do not present too brazen an appearance of their felonious origin, 
they are permitted to descend into the till, to prevent a total stagna- 
tion of trade. Even these shillings are rare, and their rarity is fre- 
quently disastrous to business. After having been detained half an 
hour for change, I have more than once been told by the shopkeeper, 
with great regret, that he had sent to all his neighbours for change 
but could not obtain any, and consequently the article purchased re- 



38 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

samed its former seat upon the shelf. It is worthy of observation, 
that the mint shilling Aveighs three pennyweights and twenty-one 
grains, so that, even in mere weight, an Irish shopkeeper is compel- 
led to submit to a deduction of rather more than one-third. 

It has been asserted, that the rebellion and the absentees have in 
a great measure occasioned the dearth of specie. During the late 
insurrectional troubles, the possessor of money naturally concealed 
it, and as naturally brought it into circulation again when the storm 
had subsided. It is not likely that a temporary cause could produce 
a permanent effect ; that the absentees have increased the drain of 
gold, no one can doubt. Their wealth was lately more considerable 
than at present, and the evil must of course have been greater. It 
has been urged that, as in the north, where the comparative property 
of absentees is greater than in the west and south, specie is abun- 
dant, it sanctions an inference, that the absentees have no influence 
in increasing the scarcity of gold : but surely the fact must be, that 
the mischief is merely less felt in the north, on account of its being 
the great depot, I had nearly said asylum, of specie. 

The first deficiency of silver may perhaps be attributable, in a 
great degree, to the effusion of silver paper-notes during the great 
circulation of base shillings in the spring of 13P4, the former of 
which the lower classes of people preferred ; and, in consequence of 
^his cheap substitution, the good silver was sent abroad as the best 
mode of remittance: after the re-appearance of silver, upon the sub- 
sidence of the rebellion, the interest of individuals induced them to 
export all the good shillings they could industriously procure, to 
England, where twenty -one of them could be exchanged for an En-r 
glis,h guinea, and in Ireland, no less a number would be taken for an 
Irish guinea note ; the difference between which, in point of exchange, 
left a handsome profit to those who engaged largely in the traffic. 
Another, and an alarming cause of the baseness of the silver coin, is 
the facility with which it may be coined, and the frequent impunity 
extended to coiners on conviction. Coiners of shillings in Ireland? 
P well as in England, are punishable with death ; but, notwithstand- 
ing several convictions of this crime, the only punishment that foj- 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. $9 

lowed, as far as I could learn, for some years, was that of the pillory; 
and even that was rarely inflicted. 

The silver coin in Ireland has always been inferior to the silver 
coin in England. In the beginning of the year 1804, the silver was 
so adulterated, that the public cffices, particularly the treasury at the 
castle, refused to take it from the post-office, and in consequer.ee the 
postmen refused to take it from the public, and detained their letters ; 
and the sellers of the necessary articles of life required a higher price 
for their articles paid for in silver, and this distressing difficulty was 
so ftened only by permission to the buyer, if he had credit, to keep up 
a running account with the seller, until the articles sold amounted to 
a guinea note, when it was paid in paper to that amount. Many per- 
sons of this description were obliged to part with what they received 
as five shillings for wages, for less than half the value in goods. Ey 
the government improvidently refusing to take the silver in circula- 
tion without supplying a better, the public, particularly the artificers 
and manufacturers, suffered the most grievous embarrassment : at 
length a representation of its distresses was made, on the 3 1st March, 
1804, to the then secretary sir Evan Nepean, from the lord mayor 
and board of aldermen in Dublin, the result of which was the fol- 
lowing note : " There is no intention at present of ordering the dis- 
" continuance of the receipt of the best of the silver coin, now in cir* 
" culation, at the public offices as usual," which was followed by the 
mayor and aldermen recommending their fellow citizens " To take 
w in payment the best of the silver coin then in circulation," which 
best silver was worth, upon trial, about sixpence, and the worst about- 
half that value ; and the proportion of the best silver to the worst was 
about equal. In consequence of the public sensation which this 
grievance produced, several of the retail dealers found themselves in 
the possession of the basest silver to the amount of seven and eight 
hunched pounds, which they could not circulate. 

To the eternal honour of Mr. Foster, and the directors of the 
bank of Ireland, the latter, under the sagacious advice of the former, 
issued a large quantity of silver tokens, enumerated in the table of 
the current coin, for the accommodation of the public, "subjecting 
themselves to the hazard of circulation, and to the loss attendant upon 



40 *FHE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

the redemption of that silver whenever a mint coinage should bd 
effected. 

The silver six shilling Irish tokens were issued on the 18th July, 
1804, to the amount of two hundred thousand pounds; but, notwith- 
standing so large an issue, it is a curiosity to see one, in conse- 
quence, as it is supposed, of their being locked up by the petty coun- 
try bankers, to accelerate the circulation of their paper called silver 
notes : for this reason they also hoard up large quantities of the 
genuine Irish shillings, called, by the low Irish, mint hogs. These 
bankers also issue notes from one to three guineas, whilst their res- 
ponsibility would tremble at a prompt demand for fifty pounds. In 
some parts of Ireland the people are so embarrassed, by the im- 
mense effusion of the notes of small banks, that a premium of three- 
pence in the pound is frequently paid for an Irish bank note, although 
,it is in all parts in a state of depreciation ; and many of these bankers 
have been known to refuse their own notes in payment for rent, with- 
out a discount being allowed: the mischief produced by such a com- 
bination is very great, and calls loudly for the interference of the 
legislature. The tenpenny and fivepenny tokens were issued on the 
11th June, 1805, to the amount of four hundred thousand pounds. 
The copper coinage of penny, halfpenny, and farthing pieces, which 
has been recently sent over to Ireland, amounts to one hundred and 
forty thousand pounds ; owing to the wretched state of the small 
circulating medium in Ireland, this was a most seasonable supply, 
and is in high demand and rapid circulation. There are very few, if 
any, counterfeits of the large tokens ; but those of the tenpenny pieces 
are very numerous, and difficult of detection, owing to the bad exe- 
cution of the originals. One cargo of tenpenny-piece counterfeits, 
to a very large amount, has been recently sent over from England, 
intrinsically worth about threepence less than the originals : these 
require the nicest eye to discover them. The coining of these tokens 
i i punishable with seven years transportation. In the north of Ireland, 
since I visited it, I find that the bank silver tokens are at a discount, 
at the same exchange as between notes and gold ; and dollars that 
pass for five shillings and fivepence in Dublin, pass there only for 
four shillings and tenpence halfpenny. Sixpences are frequently 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 41 

©bjected to in the capital, as well as in the country. I have given a 
beggar one of these pieces of coin, and he has requested me to give 
him a penny piece instead. 

As Ireland is now incorporated with the British empire, I cannot 
see why a universal assimilation of the coin should not take place. 
In the year 1637, lord Strafford issued a proclamation, directing that 
all payments should be reckoned by English money ; and that the 
consideration money of all contracts, made after the 1st of May of that 
year, should be considered to be in English money. It was not till 
the abdication of James II that this identity of English and Irish 
money was effected, when the shilling was raised, by royal procla- 
mation, to thirteen-pence ; and afterwards, in 1 695, to fourteen-pence ; 
and in 1701, it fell again to thirteen-pence, at which it has ever since 
continued. 

Some steps have already been taken to assimilate the currency 
of both countries, in the payments of the custom-house duties, which 
are generally made payable in English money. Although I am 
aware that this identity of coin would be attended with temporary 
inconveniences in detail, and would, for a short period, embarrass the 
ordinary mode of common calculation, yet I am satisfied that the ad- 
vantage of the measure would be speedy and powerful. 

The vast effusion of bank paper in Ireland cannot fail of attract- 
ing the attention of a stranger. No cause, within the range of poli- 
tical economy, can be more propitious and invigorating to the agri- 
culture, commerce, and manufactures of Ireland, than an extensive 
eredit, arising from a temperate substitution of paper for gold ; I have 
said a temperate substitution, for an excessive one must in a progres- 
sive degree be injurious. The features of this evil are said, by two 
able writers on the subject, lord King and Mr. Thornton, to consist 
in a permanent rise in the price of bullion above til. *n*nt price, and 
a permanent increase in the rate of exchange. With great defe- 
rence to such authorities, I should think an excessive^ though Jluctn- 
ating, exchange to be the surer criterion. In no part of the com- 
mercial world can more integrity, liberality, and responsibility be 
found, than amongst the bankers of Dublin, and the higher provincial 
bankers. The result of such an association of qualities is, that th£ 

F 



42 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

public are more favourably disposed towards the substitution of paper 
for gold to such a degree, that gold, which was at ten per cent, in 
Ireland, is now reduced to less than the fourth of that sum, yet the 
exorbitant state of exchange between the two countries continues. 

In the north of Ireland there is a strong disposition to resist the 
admission of paper. The linen manufacturers purchase gold and 
silver before the linen markets open. Persons concerned in that 
part in the linen trade have two prices, a gold price, and a paper 
price : hence the north has become the depository of the specie of 
the country ; but even there, when no doubt is entertained of the 
responsibility of the person offering paper, notes are received ; and, 
in the payment of rents by respectable tenants, the landlords seldom 
refused paper. With respect to the profusion of paper-currency in 
the south, I am sure I shall make my reader smile, by some instances 
which I shall adduce in a description of my visit to that quarter. 

The exorbitant state of the exchange between England and Ire- 
land also cannot fail of strongly impressing a stranger. Exchange 
is established between separate, independent commercial countries, 
for the purpose of accomplishing balances where extremes exist ; and 
it is clear that a high exchange between such countries must operate 
as a bounty on exports, and as a duty on imports. 

Let us take a view of the exchange between England and Ireland, 
now no longer politically separated : 
If I draw, in Ireland, upon England for 100/. British, at 
the rate of exchange as it was in December last, it will 
be for 
100/. at par is 

I therefore gain 

If I draw, in England, upon Ireland for 100/. of that cur- 
rency, at the same rate of exchange, it will be for 87 

This statement, which I merely offer for those who may visit 
Ireland, as I did, without any commercial habits, will show how 
much oppressed the commercial transactions of that country must 



£■ 


s. 


d. 


113 








108 


6 


8 


4 


13 


4 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 4S 

Be. The Irish importing merchant must suffer by it, because he is 
obliged to make good the amount of the invoice of the goods he re- 
ceives in sterling money in London, be the rate of exchange what it 
may ; and the exporting merchant can receive no remuneration at 
all proportionate, or in relation to the fluctuating state of exchange 
by extra charge, the Irish being purchasers on credit, and conse- 
quently would object to any advance of price, as prospective of an 
evil that might be only temporary. 

A high exchange has induced individuals to collect the good 
silver for exportation to England, which, as I have stated, is one 
cause of the embarrassment for want of silver ; and as long as the 
exchange continues so high against Ireland, a silver mint coinage, 
unless placed under the protection of legistative restriction, would not 
remain eight -and-forty hours in the country. The Jiuctuaiions of 
the exchange must also be a source of embarrassment. For two 
years and a half it settled at about par : and once an extraordinary 
instance occurred, of English bank paper being sold upon the ex- 
change of Dublin at three and a half per cent, under par. In Au- 
gust, 1798, it was at eight per cent, in London for one post day ; in 
February, March, April, May, and June, and part of July, 1798, it 
vibrated from nine to nine and three-quarters per cent.; on the 14th 
of February, 1804, it was at seventeen, and has since been as high 
as twenty. 

This high rate of exchange has been attributed to the restriction 
of bank payments in specie, to the interest of the public debt due 
from Ireland to England, to the buyers and sellers of bills, to the re- 
mittances to absentees, but more to the depreciation of Irish bank 
notes. In my humble opinion the last is the only cause, and all the 
others are immediate effects, mistaken for subordinate causes. 
Nothing can be more clear than that when foreign bills are to be 
paid in the currency of any country, which is in its own nature of a 
depreciated value, the exchange always must be against that country. 
Tht bank of Ireland notes are not exchangeable either for specie or 
bank of England bills, without a premium, which since the summer 
of 1803 to December last, has arisen from ten to twelve per cent. 
The man who goes to market in Dublin with a guinea in gold; has 



44 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

an advantage to the extent of the premium over another going t» 
market with a guinea in paper, for the former calls at a specie shop, 
and sells his guinea for a paper guinea and the premium. This 
depreciation must arise, I should suppose, from an excessive issue 
of paper ^ which in the time of the restriction upon the issue of 
gold, increased from six hundred thousand pounds to two million 
six hundred thousand pounds, in addition to the vast augmentation 
of private bankers' notes in Dublin and other parts of Ireland. The 
army in Ireland suffered considerably from being paid in paper ; 
they are now, in consequence of the interference of government, 
paid one-third in silver tokens and halfpence, and the remaining 
two-thirds are drawn for. 

In Dublin the paper of the Dublin bankers is received in the 
same manner as that of the bank of Ireland, for which the Irish 
bank is always ready to change it. The bank, except in extraordi- 
nary cases, discounts no mercantile bills for more than sixty -one 
days, and always endeavours to discriminate between bills which re- 
present real commercial transactions, and those of mere accommo- 
dation. If the high state of exchange be fairly imputable to those 
other causes which have been assigned and enumerated, the mischief 
appears to be remediless ; the restriction on the bank payments in 
specie cannot at present be prudentially removed : the interest of 
the Irish debt must be paid, until the debt be extinguished. Money 
brokers have a right to frequent the exchange ; and the law dares 
not, because it would be unjust and arbitrary, eonfine absentees to 
their native country, or tax their property for their absence. 

As agriculture is increasing in Ireland, and as 1 trust every other 
national blessing will there increase also, an increased circulation is 
immediately, and will be more pressingly wanted. To remedy the 
exchange several plans have been proposed ; amongst others, it has 
been suggested for the bank of Ireland to invest a part of its capital 
in convertible securities, either in the hands of the bank of England, 
or of its own agents, or to take bills at a given rate of exchange, 
and by being drawers at a higher rate, to create a fund to draw upon, 
which would give it a controling check over exchange operations, or 
to pay two, three, ©r four millions to its credit in the bank of Eng- 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 45 

tend, to be drawn for or remitted at the pleasure of the bank of 
Ireland : but the most effective measure seems to be a consolidation 
of the two banks, under the title of the Imperial Bank, to be 
effected by a transfer of the stock of the bank of Ireland 
proprietors, to their credit in the bank of England, to be deno- 
minated imperial stock, and by an adoption on the part of 
the bank of England of all the engagements of the bank of Ireland, 
and by placing the united concerns of the two banks under the con- 
troul of directors of the existing banks, in such numbers as might 
be agreed upon : a bank, as a branch of the Imperial Bank, to be 
kept up in Dublin for the payment of the paper of the mother 
bank, which should be made payable either in England or Ireland, 
similar to the organization of the twenty local bank offices which 
radiate from the bank in Scotland. 

The effect of such a consolidation, if it could be accomplished, 
Would in all probability keep the exchange at par for ever : the 
facility and safety of receiving and transmitting paper so issued, 
assisted by a common coin, would be felt as a public blessing, from 
the heart to all the extremities of Ireland. 

It may perhaps be objected, that in the years 1728 and 1737, 
when guineas were issueabie in both countries, the rate of exchange 
was never lower than ten and a half per cent., and was sometimes 
as high as twelve ; but this circumstance is fairly attributable to the 
want of mail-coaches, and to a general risk of conveyance. I hope 
the day is not distant when this great measure of policy will be car- 
ried into effect. What I have said is with great deference, prompted 
alone by an ardour for the amelioration and happiness of Ireland, 
which every one who visits her must feel as I do. 

But uniting Ireland to us in her advantages, and leaving her the 
gloomy dignity of unenvied independence in her wants and inconve- 
niences, approaches a little too closely to the selfishness displayed 
in the fable of the two travellers, in which the friendly pronoun 
ive with respect to the treasure found was only recognized by the 
finder, when the hue and cry of the country were raised for the loss 
of the treasure. 



46 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

The union of Ireland will ever want a cordial cement, as long as 
political distinctions that degrade her are permitted to exist; till 
then an uninformed Irishman, looking upon the ocean from his 
cabin, and finding that it divides his country from England, will 
insist upon it, and completely settle the point with his conscience, 
that the great Creator, in parcelling out the universe, had destined, 
from the first, that Ireland should be a separate nation. 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 47 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE LATE PARLIAMENT-HOUSE.. ..DIRECTORS OF THE BANK, 
OLD CROAKER. ...FORMER IRISH HOUSE OF COMMONS AND LE- 
GISLATIVE ASSEMBLY C OMPARED... .FEMALE AUDITORS.... 
ENGLISH HOUSE OF COMMONS. ...FRENCH ORATORS.. ..INFLU- 
ENCE OF A LARGE AUDIENCE ON PARLIAMENTARY ORATORS... 
PATRICIAN ELOQUENCE AND THE GARDEN-POT. ...BARRY THE 
PAINTER PACKETS MAIL-COACHES A BRILLIANT RE- 
PROACH. ...THE COLLEGE. ...MONKISH LAW. ...COLLEGE <*VIT.... 
TASTE HOW MANIFESTED. 

AMONGST the public buildings, one of the first which I 
visited was the late Parliament-House, now converting into a 
national bank. 

The parliament, in distant times, used occasionally to meet in 
the large halls of the religious houses. The parliament of 1333 
assembled in the hall of the Carmelites, in White Friars-street. 
The noble pile which we are contemplating was designed and built, 
as was generally supposed, but, singular to relate, not accurately- 
known, by Mr. Castle : to the genius of the architect it does infinite 
honour. It was commenced in the year 1729, during the adminis- 
tration of lord Carteret, under the inspection of sir Edward Lovet 
Pierce, and Arthur Dobbs, Esq., successive engineers and surveyors- 
general, and finished in 1739. The front recedes from the street, 
forming a court enclosed by iron rails. The centre consists of a 
portico of four columns, attached to a peristyle, forming three sides 
of a court, and advancing to the street, the ends of which are com- 
posed of lofty arches with piers : between are three quarter-columns 
which rest on sub-plinths. The order is Palladio's Ionic, and the 
material used is Portland stone, finished with an entablature, 
having a swelled frieze, over which are pediments of less 



48 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

dimensions than the portico. Between the plinths of the 
wings, and round the peristyle, is a flight of steps under the colon- 
nade, the walls of which are decorated by a rustic basement, in which 
were the doors of the entrance : over the basement, in the front, is a 
range of windows. A dome once formed the centre of this noble 
pile, which was destroyed by fire. Strange to relate, the portico is 
not finished by a balustrade, nor is it surrounded either by statues 
or vases, the absence of which the eye perpetually laments. 

That part of the building which was appropriated to the house 
of lords, is situated, to great advantage, towards the east in W est- 
moreland-street. This front is very elegant, and extends one 
hundred and thirty-five feet, and is constructed of the same stone as 
the old building. The portico was originally intended to have been 
of the Ionic order ; but, from the the great fall of the ground, and 
other circumstances, the architect was compelled to alter his origi- 
nal design ; and as the front was in a different street, there did not 
appear an actual necessity for the order to be similar. The pre- 
sent portico consists of six noble columns of the Corinthian order, 
thirty-six feet high, finished with its proper entablature, and a pedi- 
ment, on which are placed three fine statues by Smith. The face of 
the building is decorated with a rustic basement, exactly correspond- 
ing to the old front, over which are architraves, &c. ; but the aper- 
tures, instead of windows, as in the old front, are adorned by niches 
for statues, having over them circular and square tablets alternate- 
ly for inscriptions. The top of the building is finished with a 
balustrade. 

It is but fair to observe, that the architect was obliged to pay 
great attention in his plan, to have the portico situated opposite the 
centre of the old house of commons, and the dome that belonged 
to that building (which was by judges acknowledged to be too low); 
he therefore produced a design to give it that degree of elevation, so 
that it should become a conspicuous object of striking and com- 
manding appearance from the magnitude of its parts. The diffi- 
culties which the architect must have had to contend with, in the 
alterations for the lords and commons, must have been very great. 
As the convenience and arrangement of the plan make it necessary 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 49 

to have the portico situated at a considerable distance from the 
peristyle of the old building (the rubble walls of which were left ex= 
posed by the pulling down of the old houses), it became necessary 
to screen the deformity : and, after a variety of designs proposed, 
none appeared so eligible as the sweep, or circular wall, which, by 
the simplicity of its parts, appears to make a pleasing junction, not 
too imposing in its decoration of parts to injure or disturb the har- 
mony of the principal fronts. 

The house of lords was designed and executed by Mr. Gandon. 
The west front, in Foster-place, is constructed of the same materials 
as the other fronts, and is from the design of the same gentleman 
with some few alterations, such as a pediment being substituted in 
place of Caryatic figures in the centre ; and instead of a correspond- 
ing screen wall, as on the other side, as I was well informed, a colon- 
nade was substituted at the suggestion of a gentleman who had the 
management of the business : and although a colonnade is always 
and every where a most beautiful piece of architecture, yet it must, in 
this instance, have been the principal instead of the subordinate fea- 
ture, and must have attracted the eye from the principal front, 
and produced a very visible incongruity in the whole building. 

This stately pile is now undergoing great alterations, both ex- 
ternally and internally, in order to be appropriated to the use of a 
national bank. The spirit which the governors and directors of the 
bank have displayed is whimsically laudable : they have educed the 
latent genius of the country, by giving premiums for the best designs 
appropriated to a national bank : and yet, amongst no less than thirty- 
five, three of which obtained premiums of two hundred, one hundred, 
and fifty pounds, not one of them has been adopted, nor could I learn 
that any regular design had yet been made ; and much is it to be 
lamented, that, whilst they are offering premiums for designs, they 
pursue their own. They appear to think with old Croaker, in the 
Good-natured Man : « Come, then, produce your reasons. I tell 
« you I'm fixed, determined ; so now produce your reasons. When 
" I'm determined, I always listen to reason, because it can then do no 
" harm." But much harm, I fear, has already been done. The in- 
tervals between the colonnade? or screen, on the west side, have been 

G 



50 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

filled up with little or no taste. If at first that elegant screen were 
improperly raised, the error of its situation has been increased, by 
the violation of its chaste and beautiful columns ; if it were judici- 
ously erected, it is now spoiled. 

Should the alteration in this building proceed as it has comt 
menced, it will be as inferior to its original design, as the technical 
language of banking-clerks, stock-brokers, and money-changers is 
below that eloo x uence, which, vying with Roman genius and expres- 
sion, once resounded within its wails. 

In the name of taste, I recommend to those who have the direc- 
tion of this noble pile, the unnnisheo state of the principal front, and 
may they, by the appropriate embellishments to be bestowed upon 
it, atone for the outrage which has been offered to the colonnade ! it 
seems to be all the reparation within their power. 

It were useless now, but as an example to the government of the 
united kingdom, to describe the former beauties and conveniences of 
its internal structure, compared with which the imperial senate 
dwindles into a plain metl.odist meeting, and the room of a popular 
auctioneer, upon the sides of which gloomy pieces of ancient tapestry 
appear to be suspended for inspection previous to sale. 

The former house of commons of Ireland was an octagon, sur- 
mounted by a dome, which rested upon columns of the Ionic order, 
that rose from an amphitheatrical spacious gallery, surrounded with 
a light and elegant balustrade of iron, within which strangers were 
admitted to hear the debates, and were conveniently accommodated. 
From the description which I had of this part of the edifice, it must 
have been second only to the hall of the legislative assembly at Paris, 
which is the most elegant senatorial building I ever beheld. In Eng- 
land, a man must have the ribs of a rhinoceros, and the patience of the 
great example of that divine faculty, before he dare venture, when an 
interesting debate is expected, to assume, and amidst a pressing mob 
to maintain, his position at the gallery door, for ten hours before it 
opens, into a place not capable of holding the twentieth part of those 
who have attempted an admission. In the Irish house of commons, 
the fair were the most welcome visitors, and, by their presence, no 
doubt conspired to render the eloquence which they admired more 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND, 51 

pure and exalted. From the English house of commons, with an ex- 
ception of the female part of the royal family, they have been excluded, 
time out of mind, where they are considered as contraband goods, 
which, however, I have been told, have occasionally been smuggled 
in and out under the disguise of a round hat, a Belcher handkerchief, 
a great coat, and pantaloons. The twin-spirit of British and Irish 
eloquence now dwells in a little dark dirty house, 

"As your pearl in a foul oyster." 

Were the French minister, in such a room as this, to lay his 
expose before the public, the narrative would lose half its imagina- 
tion and vivacity. 

One of the most distinguished orators of the age assured me, 
that he always felt himself encouraged and animated by a full audi- 
ence, and particularly by a crowded gallery, in which, more than in 
the body of the house in general, a superior power of discriminating 
and relishing the beauties of an oration is to be found ; and that, under 
these circumstances, his most successful speeches had been made. 
He attributed the frequent absence of energetic declamation in the 
upper house to the want of the animating presence of numbers ; and, 
on that account, compared the soil of eloquence in that region to 
earth in a garden-pot, which wanted the invigorating and generous 
quality which it derived from manure, depth, expansion, and expo- 
sure. To which may be added, that, in a blissful constitution like 
ours, the people appear to have a sort of inherent right to witness 
the conduct of their delegates, and ought not to be obliged to search 
for it in newspaper reports, and ephemeral pamphlets, in which, for 
a valuable consideration, meagre speeches may undergo any em- 
bellishment ; and orations never spoken not unfrequently excite the 
admiration of the breafast-tuble. 

The hammer and the saw have not yet demolished the Irish 
house of lords, the whole arrangement of which is nearly entire, and 
appears to have been constructed more with a view to convenience 
than elegance. This room was formerly embellished by a very fine 
painting, from the hand of that eccentric but wonderful genius, the 
!ate Barry, who was born at Cork. The subject was St. Patrick 



52 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

the apostle of Ireland, preaching the glad tidings of salvation to Le'o- 
garius, the haughty pagan prince of that country. 

Opposite to the grand front of the late parliament-house is the 
general post-office, where the ear is annoyed with newsmen, crying 
out, " Two packets, two packets ;" meaning that the news, which 
they hold in their hands, contain the intelligence brought by that 
number of packets last arrived from England. It was upon the steps 

of this place that, one day, Curran and lord P were standing, 

when the latter, who had voted for the union, as he looked towards 
the late parliament-house, which was then in a forlorn state of mu- 
tilation, observed, " How shocking our old parliament-house looks, 
" Curran!" to which the witty barrister finely replied: « True, my 
M lord; it is usual for murderers to be afraid of ghosts." 

THE PACKETS 

Between England and Ireland are stationed at Dublin, Donaghadee, 
and Waterford: these packets belong to Great Britain, and their 
expence is charged upon the British revenue. No part whatever of 
this establishment is supported by the revenue of Ireland. 

THE MAIL-COACHES 

Run from Dublin to Cork, Belfast, Longford, Limerick, Deny, En- 
niskellin, Waterford, Sligo, and Dungannon. There are also two 
mail-coaches established between Cork and Limerick : one passes 
by Fermoy, and the other by Charleville. 

POST TOWNS. 

There are three hundred and four in Ireland ; to two hundred of 
which the mails are conveyed six times in each week ; and to one 
hundred and four, three times in each week. 

In the year 1801, there were but four mail-coaches in Ireland, 
viz. to Cork, Limerick, Belfast, and Longford. But that valuable 
part of the establishment, the importance of which manifests itself 
every day, has been considerably and wisely augmented, as it ensures 
an expeditious and secure conveyance of the public correspondence. 
The aame system has been attempted to be extended to other parts 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 33 

©f the kingdom ; but the insufficiency of travelling intercourse, and 
K 5 tdte of the roads, def.ated the intentions of the postmasters- 
general, and forced the contractors, after becoming bankrupts, to re- 
sign their contracts. 

It must ever be the object of the post-office, so long as the post- 
masters-general are actuated by a desire to promote the prosperity 
of the department and the public interest, to increase the mail-coach 
system to the utmost extent, in every direction where circumstances 
will admit such extension. 

£. s. d. 
Gross revenue for the year 1805 138,186 9 2 

Nett ditto 54,032 6 7| 

Expence. — Dublin establishment 13,960 13 3 

Country ditto 15,247 10 5 

Mail-coach and guards 11,037 8 2 

My next visit was to the College of the holy and undivided Tri- 
nity, the students of which in their collegiate habits give much viva- 
city to the city. This building forms to the eye one termination of 
Dame-street, and is in the shape of a parallelogram, extending in 
front three hundred feet, and in depth about six hundred, and is di- 
vided into two nearly equal squares, in which are thirty-three build- 
ings of eight rooms each : the principal or west front is in the Co- 
rinthian order, and is built of Portland stone, as are all the buildings 
in the first square ; this front is ornamented with pilasters and 
festoons, and, considering how recent its construction is, viz. in 1759, 
I must own it did not favourably impress me. The most beautiful 
parts of this vast pile are the chapel and the theatre, designed by 
sir William Chambers, which are opposite to and correspond with 
each other, and have each of them a handsome dome, and a front 
supported by four noble columns of the Corinthian order. The 
theatre is used for examinations and lectures. Its principal orna- 
ment is a monument erected to the memory of provost Baldwin. 
which represents the figure of Learning weeping over the recumbent 
figure of that great man : the whole is chiseled out of one solid 
block, and is the masterly production of Mr. Hewetson, a native of 



54 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

Ireland, who left his country to settle in Rome. There are portraits 
of queen Elizabeth, lord Clare, bishop Berkley, dean Swift, and 
Burke. This noble room, exclusive of a semicircular recess, thirty- 
six feet in diameter, is eighty feet long, forty broad, and forty -four 
high. The chapel opposite is very handsome. In the same area are 
the refectory and hall. The south side of the inner square is entirely 
occupied by the library, which is supported by a piazza, more than 
two hundred feet long, which, as well as the front of the library, is 
built of very friable stone, and has rather a heavy effect. The inside 
is very commodious and magnificent, and will hold ninety thousand 
volumes ; there is a gallery round it supported by pillars of Irish 
oak, the balustrades of which are adorned with busts in white marble, 
of Plato, Socrates, Aristotle, Cicero, Demosthenes, Homer, Shakes- 
peare, Milton, Bacon, Newton, Locke, Boyle, Swift, archbishop 
Usher, who contributed largely to the library, the earl of- Pembroke, 
Dr. Delaney, Dr. Lawson, Dr. Gilbert, who also bequeathed a great 
number of books, and Dr. Baldwin. The number of books and MSS-, 
in this room is seventy thousand. 

At the further end is another room, which is not yet opened, in 
which is the celebrated library of baron Fagel from Holland: the books 
are not yet arranged, some of them are most beautifully illuminated. 
I had the pleasure of being attended by the librarian, Dr. John Barrett, 
one of the most learned men in Ireland. It is said that the doctor 
has scarcely ever passed the gates of the college for twenty years, 
and that he has perused most of the volumes of this vast library, 
which 1 think infinitely finer than the celebrated one at Upsala in 
Sweden. This valuable depot of learning owes its preservation to a 
Roman catholic ecclesiastic of the name of Moore, who being a lover 
of letters, and having a liberal and expanded mind, when the fellows 
and scholars were forcibly expelled by the ruffian soldiers of James 
II, on account of a most honourable and firm resistance to a most 
foul and infamous mandamus, contrived to get himself nominated 
provost, and thus preserved this literary treasure from the ravages 
of those armed Vandals. In the museum there is scarcely any thing 
worthy of notice. In the anatomy-house there is a curious collection 
of figures properly labelled, representing women in every stage of 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 55 

parturition, formed of wax upon real skeletons : they occupied the 
whole life of a very ingenious French artist, and, as appears from a 
tablet, were purchased by lord Shelburne, and by him presented to 
the university. This part of the building stands in a noble piece of 
ground laid out in walks for the recreation of the students, which was 
formerly the grand parade of all the belles and beaux of the city. It 
was near the spot on which the college stands, that Henry the second, 
when he went to Dublin, was lodged in a.jialact of wicker-work and 
wattles. 

The number of students is about five hundred. Ever since the 
the year 1311, various attempts were made to establish an university 
in Dublin, which were rendered all abortive till 1584, when sir John 
Perrot, the lord deputy, endeavoured to raise two universities out of the 
ruins of the cathedral of St. Patrick, which Loftus, archbishop of Dub- 
lin successfully opposed, deeming the alienation a sort of sacrifice ; yet 
convinced of the necessity of such a foundation, he prevailed upon the 
mayor and citizens in common council to grant the Augustine mo- 
nastery of All Saints within the suburbs for erecting a college. This 
grant was confirmed by queen Elizabeth in 1591, who endowed it with 
lands in Ulster, and the stream of royal bounty was afterwards en- 
larged by James I, and his devoted successor, the former of whom 
presented to it the patronage of fifteen church -livings in the same 
province, to whom they escheated by the rebellion of O'Neill : and 
strange to relate, the college contains neither bust nor portrait of 
either of the latter royal patrons. 

The government of the whole of this learned body is invested in 
the provost and senior fellows alone. The present provost is the 
Rev. Dr. Hall, a divine distinguished for the depth of his learning, 
and the purity of his morals. The situation is worth about one thou- 
sand five hundred pounds per annum. The provost has also a casting 
voice upon all matters relating to the college. The average income 
of a senior fellow is about eight hundred pounds a year ; and that of 
a junior fellow, including lodgings, commons, and lectures, about 
one hundred pounds per annum, which is frequently increased by 
pupils to a considerable income. The fellows of Trinity -college, by 
a stupid and unnatural clause in the college-charter, are restrained 



56 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

from marriage ; or if they taste of connubial happiness, their ladies 
are under the whimsical necessity of retaining their maiden names, 
until a dispensation is procured from the king. 

It is high time, in this age of reason and liberality, that so monkish 
an inhibition should, like a rank and unwholesome weed, bow before 
the scythe of the legislature. It would not, I am sure, be a dangerous- 
experiment, to endeavour to ascertain whether the great social offices- 
of husband and parent are fatal to learning and piety. 

The qualifications for a junior fellowship are most unreasonably 
numerous; and few can pass the ordeal of a three days examination, 
which presupposes a knowledge of astronomy, mathematics, ethics, 
physics, logic, chronology, history, Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and the 
whole circle of arts, sciences, and classics. Even Swift obtained his 
degree in this college speciali gratia. 

An examination at this college produced the following circum- 
stance, with which I am sure every mind of liberal feeling and clas- 
sical taste must be delighted. When Curran was in the college, it 
happened that a fellow-student and friend of his had to repeat in pub- 
lic a Latin thesis which he had written. Unfortunately for the orator, 
the word nimirum occurring in it, he pronounced it nimirum (sound- 
ing the second i short), which so wounded the critical ears of the 
learned auditory, that a general buz was heard in the room, and the 
words " false quantity" were whispered by one and another to the 
utter confusion of the speaker. To divert the attention of the assem- 
bly, and relieve the embarrassment of his friend, Curran had recourse 
to the following generous and brilliant expedient : " Gentlemen," said 
he, " it is by no means extraordinary that the student should have 
" mistaken the quantity of this word ; for, according to Horace, there 
" was only one man in all Rome that understood the word, and that 
" was Septimius : 

" Septimius, Claudi, nimirum intelligit wins." 

This apposite and ready application of the first line of one of 
Horace's epistles, it is needless to say, produced universal good-hu- 
mour, and effectually extricated the young student from the awkward 
situation into which he had fallen. 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 57 

An absurd fashion induced the Irish nobility and gentry to send 
their sons to Oxford and Cambridge ; as if the seat of learning in 
which a Swift, a Burke, a Grattan, and a Curran, had been reared, 
were incapable of bestowing upon the mind an adequate proportion 
of erudition. This custom, which cannot be too much reprehended, 
is gradually submitting to a more enlarged and liberal mode of think- 
ing. In ancient times, the venerable Bede says, " that many noble 
« English, and others of inferior rank, were in the habits of going to 
" Ireland to cultivate letters ; and many of those who attended the lec- 
" tures of celebrated teachers were received by the Irish, and sup- 
" plied with food, books, and instruction, without any recompence." 

The provost's house is adjoining the college, although it does not 
sufficiently appear to be a part of it. It is built of free-stone, and 
the first story is embellished with isicle and rusticated work : upon the 
second is a range of pilasters of the Doric order, and in the centre is 
a Venetian window of the Tuscan order; before the house is a court, 
enclosed by a rusticated wall. The external appearance of the whole 
is heavy and gloomy. 

The area of which the late parliament-house, the new club-house, 
a handsome edifice of hewn stone, and the college, form two sides, is 
called College-green, in the centre of which is an equestrian statue 
in brass of king William, upon a marble pedestal, raised by the citi- 
zens of Dublin to commemorate their deliverance from slavery under 
his auspices, on the 4th of November ; on which day in every year a 
grand military spectacle, at which the viceroy en gala assists, is ex- 
hibited. This statue is barbarously painted, and the pedestal exhibits 
all the coarse association of colours which constitutes the most strik- 
ing ornament of a glazier's shop. 



H 



53 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND, 



CHAPTER V. 

DUBLIN SOCIETY... CERES AND TRIPTOLEMUS... GERMAN AND RUS- 
SIAN INGENIOUS B-OORS... DRAWING-SCHOOLS. ..VENUS's SHELL... 
EEMALE LEGS. ...NATURAL GENIUS FOR FORGING FRANKS.... 
"PORT, IF YOU PLEASE". ...THE PARLIAMENTARY ORATOR AND 
BOTTLE OF PORTER. ...CHURCHES WITHOUT STEEPLES... .THE 
EXCHANGE... .THE COMFORT OF ARCHITECTURAL ERRORS.... 
CATHEDRAL OF ST. PATRICK'S. ...THE CHOIR....DEAN SWIFT 
AND STELLA.. ..BRILLIANT WIT. ...CHURCH-RESIDENCE. 

I WAS much gratified by a visit to the Dublin Society of Arts, 
which is supported by the national spirit of individuals with occasional 
parliamentary aid. The whole is under the superintendance of gene- 
ral Vallancey, chief engineer of Ireland ; author of the Vindication of 
the Ancient History of Ireland ; of a Prospectus of a Dictionary of the 
Irish Language, compared with the Chaldean and Arabic; and many 
other learned works : under whose auspices more immediately the 
society has attained a rank and consideration amongst the principal 
institutions of a similar nature in other countries. Its object is the 
promotion of those arts that are most propitious to the amelioration 
of that country. In the hall are several pilars from the Giant's 
Causeway. In the library are excellent imitations of basso-relievo 
by De Grey, a promising young Irish artist, from the subject of Ceres 
and Triptolemus ; which bear a strong affinity in names and meaning 
to the Irish words cairim or cuirim, to sow or plant, treabtalamh, a 
plougher of the earth. In a long gallery are several good busts and 
casts, and at one end is a fine cast of Laocoon, presented to the socicty 
by David LaTouche, junior, Esq. The original I have seen, as well 
as the divine statue of the Belvidere Apollo, in the imperial museum 
at Paris, and give the preference infinitely to the latter. Near the 
Laocoon is a model of the celebrated bridge of Schafif hausen over the 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. S§ 

Khine, which, notwithstanding the veneration which the French have 
frequently observed in all their campaigns for works of art, unfortu- 
nately fell a victim to the destroying fury of war. It will be remem- 
bered that a common carpenter of Appenzel undertook to throw a 
wooden bridge of one arch across this river, near three hundred feet 
wide ; that the magistrates, apprehensive of its insecurity, insisted 
upon its having two arches, and that he should rest the fabric upon 
the middle pier of the old bridge, which then remained entire. The 
architect was obliged to submit, but contrived with admirable dex- 
terity that the bridge should only apparently come in contact with the 
middle pier, from which it never derived any support. The model 
is well formed, but is defective in not representing the consummate 
skill of the carpenter in the latter instance. I remember seeing in 
the gardens of the Taurida palace at Petersburg, a most beautiful 
model of a bridge ninety feet long, of one arch, intended to be thrown » 
over the Neva ; it was the astonishing production of an untutored 
Russian boor. 

In the society there are three schools for drawing, engraving, and 
designing, to each of which fifty boys are admitted. I found several 
of the young students applying with activity and tolerable success. 
The drawing -master has a salary of one hundred pounds per annum, 
and devotes three hours to his pupils three days in the week. Every 
article necessary for drawing is provided at the sole expence of the 
society. Ireland has produced Barry, and other distinguished artists, 
from this school ; and others may hereafter emanate to shed lustre 
upon their country in the arts : at all events the youthful mind is di- 
rected from low and ordinary habits, to the contemplation of objects 
of elegance and taste, and the cause of refinement is promoted. It is 
a circumstance worthy of remark, that the French school is not in 
the slightest degree improved, nor has any change of manner been 
effected in it, by the works of the sublimest masters, which, in the 
character of spoils of war, have been with occasional augmentation for 
some years past introduced into the imperial cabinet at Paris. At 
Stockholm I witnessed a similar institution, but not quite so liberally- 
conducted, the object of which was more to produce refined citizens 
/.ban able artists. 



60 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 



Under the same roof is the Leskeanum mineral museum, in 
which there is a fine collection of fossils, all admirably arranged and 
labelled, and catalogued. Amongst them I was much gratified by 
some very fine wood agates, ships of oak petrified, chrystallized 
water, pheasant's-eye agate spoon, a beautiful polished milk-white 
opal enclosing a drop of loose water, some fine spars, several curious 
petrifactions of fish and plants : it is a memorable circumstance, inas- 
much as it tends to fix our faith in divine narration, that the fish and 
plants so petrified are the native production of regions very remote 
from those in which they were discovered, and evidently illustrate the 
marvellous history of the deluge. There is also a highly curious 
petrifaction of an arm, brought by general Vailancey from Gibraltar, 
where as there are no monkeys, it is presumed that it must be a hu- 
man one ; previous to this discovery, animal petrifaction was much 
doubted. 

In the Numarium is some beautiful stained glass by Richard Hand, 
an Irish artist of much promise, coloured in 1794. In the Regnum 
Animale, amongst many precious shells, are specimens of the nauti- 
lus, from which wonderful tropical production the Romans first con- 
structed their boats; it is a siphon throughout, and by its valves is 
capable of raising or depressing itself: Pope offered it the incense of 
his song: 

Learn of the little nautilus to sail, 

Spread the thin web, and catch the driving" gale. 

If I pass over Venus's cockle without paying my homage to the 
beautiful shell, may I never love or be loved ! This is one of nature's 
happiest efforts, and is exhibited as a great and precious rarity. There 
are also some horns which belonged to the moose deer, a race of ani- 
mals which are now extinct in Ireland, dug out of bogs ; several Irish 
minerals of great richness and beauty with which Ireland abounds ; 
and specimens of gold from the mine of the Wicklow mountains. 

The exhibition room is about seventy feet long, thirty broad, and 
twenty-five high; the room was under repair, and excepting some 
dogs by Quadel, therc was little in it worthy of notice. In the modi;! . 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND, 61 

room were a great number of ingenious models of mills, ploughs, &c. 
There are four professors attached to this society, viz. : 

1 . Of chemistry and mineralogy, at a salary of three hundred 
pounds per annum, at present filled by Mr. Higgins. 

2. Of botany, three hundred pounds per annum, Mr. Wade. 

3. Of experimental philosophy, one hundred pounds per annum. 
Mr. Lynch. 

4. Of veterinary art, fifty pounds per annum, and house-rent al- 
lowed at sixty-six pounds, Dr. Peele. 

Each professor gives a course of lectures annually. The annual 
expenditure, including premiums, is seven thousand pounds. The 
society has a botanical garden, near a small village called Glassne- 
vin, about one mile from Dublin, in which there is a large collection 
of indigenous plants, 8cc. The annual expenditure is about seven- 
teen hundred pounds ; head-gardeners salary is one hundred pounds 
per annum ; three under-gardeners at fifty pounds each per annum, 
and twelve labourers, are constantly employed. 

As I am no botanist, I beg leave to quit shrubs and flowers for 
beauties of another and far more interesting nature. As I returned 
to my hotel, my eye naturally endeavoured to ascertain the truth of 
an assertion made by a writer, who has justly rendered himself ob- 
noxious by his want of candour or of observation, in his celebrated 
critique upon the legs of the Irish ladies : the day was singularly- 
favourable, for tjie wind was fresh, and the atmosphere was clear, and 
the belles of Dublin were enjoying the beauty of the weather. 
With all the solemnity due to the subject, I am ready to swear, upon 
the altar of Cupid, or any other altar, that the ancles and feet which 
I saw, were as tapering and as pretty as the ancles and feet of the 
belles of London, or even of Stockholm, although not so numerous 
as in the latter city, where they are to be found in great perfection ; 
and that the assertion of the writer alluded to is a most foul and 
slanderous libel upon those beautiful portions of the female frame, 
and which, if time has not chilled the feelings of the libeller, ought for 
ever to be withheld from his sight. If pretty feet do not abound in 
Ireland, it is only because they do not abound in any other country : 
being a part of female beauty, it partakes of its rarjty. Had thi$ 



62 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

writer been making the tour of a county in England which I 
know, and had he been present at the following scene which occur- 
red there, he would, with equal precision, have made a memoran- 
dum, that all the women of England had thick legs. An English 
young lady just married, being much oppressed by the heat of a 
ball-room, fainted ; a gentleman offered to assist her husband, who 
held her in his arms, to remove her into the open air, and stooped 
to raise her legs from the ground ; upon which the husband, with 
much truth and great calmness of consideration, said, " My dear sir, 
" let me recommend you to leave them alone, for you will find 
" them very heavy." 

The same writer has charged the Irish ladies with being natu- 
rally addicted to the forgery of franks : this accusation enlarges the 
sphere of genius to an extent unknown before. I have heard of 
a rich Hamburgher, of whom, having been very successful in trade, 
it was said that he was most happily organized by nature for a 
sugar-refiner ; but this predisposition will, I am sure, be confessed 
to be far short of the natural bias towards an imitation of the hand- 
writing of a member of parliament. I understand that this won- 
derful discovery originated from the writer having made, several 
years since, an unsuccessful application for a frank to an Irish lady 
pf fashion, who used frequently to be the amanuensis of her husband, 
who was in parliament, and occasionally, by his direction, to write his 
covers : a custom which, without any felonious intent, I do assure this 
irritable tounst, is practised in the families of several members in 
England at this day. This knight-errant against that sex, for whom 
the sword of chivalry has hitherto been unsheathed, has also charg- 
ed the Irish ladies with being so naturally bacchanalian, that at 
dinner, if a gentleman only accidentally glances his eye upon one of 
. them, she converts the look into a convivial challenge, and with a 
true jolly Anacreontic smile, and a cordial seizure of the decanter, 
exclaims, " Port, if you please." To defend them from such an 
imputation would be like hurling a rock at a fly, and as ridiculous 
as the accusation. How far they merit such sarcasm, will appear 
in my remarks upon the present state of society in Ireland. This 
arriter, well knowing that the love of ridicule is a predominant 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 63 

passion with most of us, has feathered his arrow with falsehood, to 
Wound the purest bosom, which truth, as well as gallantry is bound 
to protect. If we suffer from satire, it is but a requital for indulg- 
ing in ourselves the weakness which is gratified with it. To such 
an extent is that imbecility permitted to range, that the happiest 
efforts of genius have been frequently shaken by the most contemp- 
tible occurrence. Not many years since, in the middle of one of 
the finest effusions of eloquence ever heard within the walls of the 
Irish house of commons, every avenue of which was filled ; whilst 
the crowded assembly were listening in mute astonishment to the 
orator, the cork of a bottle of porter, which had been conveyed into 
the gallery, suddenly flew ; its sound immediately withdrew the pub- 
lic attention, a titter ran round the room, and the speaker abruptly 
closed a most brilliant oration in chagrin, to find all the attention 
which his oratory had excited, dissolved by this ridiculous explosion 
©f a little fermenting beer. 

In walking in the streets of Dublin, a stranger is much struck 
by observing so many churches without steeple, tower, or dome* 
the want of which renders this magnificent city of little conse- 
quence to the eye at a distance. This circumstance may perhaps 
induce some future tourist, in the spirit of the one I have alluded 
to, to assert that the people of Dublin are naturally very much 
alarmed at lightning, and therefore take care to have as few at- 
tractors as possible. I was much gratified with the Royal Ex- 
change, which stands opposite to Parliament-street and Essex- 
bridge. It is nearly a square, with three fronts of Portland stone in 
the Corinthian order, surmounted by a dome in the centre of the 
building. The principal front has a range of six columns with cor- 
respondent pilasters and entablature, which support a richly deco- 
rated pediment ; and in the same range, are two pilasters on each 
side. A spacious flight of steps ascends to the front, in which, be- 
tween the columns, are three entrances, with elegant iron gate? 
fastened to Ionic pilasters. Over the gates are three windows which 
light the coffee-room, and on each side are two others very hand- 
somely decorated. The inside is singularly elegant. The dome 
; -^ supported by twelve composite fluted columns, the entablature. 



64 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

ever which is very beautiful. The ceiling of the dome is embei« 
lished with stucco ornaments in the mosaic taste. Between two of 
the columns is a bronze statue of his present majesty, said to have 
cost seven hundred guineas ; its size and situation are not favour- 
able to it. Every visible part of the inside of this building is of 
Portland stone. There are several noble apartments above, which I 
now regret I did not visit ; for this edifice, although too small for 
the comfortable accommodation of its visitors, is a beautiful speci- 
men of the architectural taste of the country. 

This building was designed by Mr. Cooley, commenced in the 
year 1769, during the viceroyalty of lord Townsend, opened in the 
beginning of the year 1779, and cost about fifty thousand pounds, 
which sum was raised by lotteries, under the spirited and able ma- 
nagement of the merchants and bankers of Dublin, to whose huma- 
nity, zeal, and munificence, the city is indebted for many of her 
public buildings, which would do honour to the taste and feelings of 
any country. Having thus spoken of the construction of this build- 
ing, it is but just that I should make one comment Upon the singu- 
lar situation, not only of this elegant pile, but almost of every other 
public building of consequence* in Dublin. Some of them project 
obliquely from the street of which they form a part of the side ; yet, 
strange as it may appear, the effect is not unpleasant: the access to 
others is very bad and inconvenient ; and there are some which, if 
they terminate a street, or the view of one, present only three parts 
of their front to it : the latter is nearly the case with the Royal Ex- 
change : however, this coy appearance is not without its comfort ; 
for a foot-passenger is not obliged to ^contend with the mud of the 
middle of the street, and to run the hazard of having his brains 
knocked out by the pole of a carriage, to obtain a full view of the 
building : by walking quietly and cleanly on the pavement, he will 
be able to command the centre ; and, for this purpose, the closer 
he presses against the side of the street, and the nearer he ad- 
vances towards the building, by so much the better will his eye be 
gratified : many cf the streets are out of the line with those which 
Form their continuation. Swift, with his usual pleasantry, accounted 
for the buildings in his time not being straight, by observing that the 
bricklayer's line was crooked. 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 65 

Genius, which consecrates whatever it touches, induced me to 
pay an early visit to St. Patrick's Abbey, the depository of the ashes 
of Swift : this venerable pile stands in one of the most squalid and 
filthy parts of the town, called the Poddle. The cathedral, in rainy 
seasons, is frequently laid twelve feet under water, and part of the 
inside is supported by props and scaffolding. It was built in 1190, 
upon the scite of an ancient parochial church, said to have been 
erected by St. Patrick. There is only one choir, which sings at St. 
Patrick's, Christ's church, and the college chapel. It is a remark- 
ably fine one, and consists of nine singers, the principal of whom 
are sir John Stevenson, well known for his fine musical genius and 
exquisite composition, and Mr. Spray. Their labours are a little 
severe : they sing at the College at ten o'clock every Sunday ; from 
thence they repair to Christ church at half past eleven ; afterwards, 
at three o'clock in the afternoon, they sing at St. Patrick's, and re- 
pair to Christ's church again at six. 

The monuments are neither numerous nor excellent. In the 
same nave are three mortuary slabs : one to the memory of a 
faithful servant of Swift's ; another to Mrs. Johnson, his beloved 
Stella ; and the third to the dean, with the following morbid 
epitaph, written by himself. 

Hie depositum est corpus 

JONATHAN SWIFT, S T. IX 

hujus ecclesise Cathedralis 

Decani, 

ubi sgeva indignatio 

ulterius 
cor lacerare nequit. 

Abi viator 

et imitare si poteris 

strenuum pro virili 

libertatis vindicatorem. 

Obiit 19 die mensis Octobris, 

A, D. 1745. Anno setatis 78, 



66 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND 

In English. 

Here lies the body of 

JONATHAN SWIFT, Doctor of Divinity, 

and Dean of this Cathedral, 

where unrelenting persecution 

is unable any farther 

to lacerate his heart. 

Go, stranger, 

and imitate, if you can, 

one who was to his utmost 

the strenuous defender of his 

country's liberty. 

Such is the brief, modest, but melancholy description, of one of 
'die greatest and most eccentric geniuses of the age, whose heart 
has been finely compared to "a perpetual spring of the purest 
" benevolence ; always flowing, always full." And such was the 
man who may be said, by his unbounded influence over lord Ox- 
ford and lord Bolingbroke, to have ruled the kingdom in his day ;. 
and who, such are the triumphs of transcendant genius ! made 
himself loved, feared, and courttd by persons of the highest rank, at 
a time when he received them in a lodging of tight shillings a 
week. Let us contrast these gloomy marks of a melancholy mind 
with one of its many brilliant effusions in moments of gaiety and 
happiness. A lady, in. quitting a room, happened with her long 
train to throw down a fine cremona fiddle belonging to Swift, when 
he applied, with a felicity which has iiever been surpassed, the fol- 
lowing line from Virgil : 

■' Mantua vse miserse nimium vicina. Cremm* /" 

Many wealthy people in Dublin owe their present flourishing 
condition to their ancestors having been benefited by dean Swift's 
charitable bank, who out of the first five hundred pounds he could 
call his own, accommodated poor tradesmen with small sums, from 
five to ten pounds, to be repaid weekly, at two or four shillings with- 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 67 

put interest, which, as his able biographer elegantly states, " small 
k ' as the spring was, yet by continual flowing it watered and enriched 
*< the humble vale through which it ran." * Previous to the death of 
this great man, his servants used, to their eternal disgrace, to exhibit 
their wretched master in his last moments of mental debility to the 
populace of Dublin, at twopence a piece, which Pope notices with 
horror, where he says, " And Swift expires a driv'ller and a show." 
An instance of infamous rapacity, which had no imitation till, to the 
eternal disgrace of the country, it was displayed under the dome of 
St. Paul's, by the exposure of the coffin of our immortal Nelson, 
after the solemn honours of a public funeral, to the vulgar eye, for 
one shilling a head*. 

In the chapter-room is a black slab placed over the remains of 
the duke of Schomberg, who fell in the battle of the Boyne, with an 
inscription by Swift, who thus severely reflects upon the warrior's 
relations, who refused to rais;e a mortuary monument to his memory. 
" Plus fiotuit Jama virtutis a/iud alienos quam sanguinis firoximitas 
" apud suos" " His virtue prevailed more amongst strangers, than 
" the ties of blood amongst his kindred." 

On the day when I visited the cathedral, a celebrated senatorial 
doctor of civil laws presided in the choir, as vicar-general of the me- 
tropolitan court of Armagh, and of the consistorial court of Dublin, 
at a full visitation. In the course of his speech, he rather sharply 
rebuked them for non-residence, and neglect of the parochial schools, 
which, as a stranger, had the effect of humiliating the character of 
the Irish clergy in my opinion, until, by a subsequent association with 
several of them, I was enabled to ascertain the high respectability of 
their order, and to form a respect and esteem for their learning and 
virtues, which will last as long as my memory endures. 

The residence of the clergy would undoubtedly be desirable, but 
to chain them down to a spot at the mercy of one man, would in Ire- 
land be a case of extreme hardship, and in many instances impossi- 

* To more liberal enthusiasts the body was raised, so that the hand might 
touch the lid of the coffin ; but halj-a-crovm was demanded of those who 
hus committed " sacrilege out of veneration." 



68 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

ble, from there being so great a deficiency of glebe-houses ; and 
moreover it would savour of a severe retaliation upon the protestant 
ministry, for the severe pressure which the catholic sustains from 
being obliged to contribute to the support of the priest of a religion 
which he follows, and of the-minister of one which is repugnant to 
him. Clerical residence in Ireland is more to be encouraged than 
enforced, from the reason above stated. The conduct of the right 
reverend Dr. William King, archbishop of Dublin, in Swift's time, 
may not be unworthy of notice. " When a lease had run out seven 
*' years or more, he stipulated with the tenant to resign up twenty or 
11 thirty acres to the minister of the parish where it lay convenient, 
" without lessening his former rent," leaving a small chief rent for 
the minister to pay. 

The deanery so celebrated for the residence of Swift has been 
pulled down, and another erected upon its scite ; and the palace of 
the archbishop of Dublin is converted into barracks. Both these- 
houses are situated in a close neighbourhood, with a collection of 
more mud, rags, and wretchedness, than London can exhibit in its 
most miserable quarters, 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND 69 



CHAPTER V. 

THE BLACK-ROCK ...LOCAL ADVANTAGE OF DUBLIN. ...MARTELLO 
TOWERS. ...COOK-MAID, WHISKEY, AND PRIEST. ...A LETTER.... 
IRISH TASTE... .NEWGATE. .'..IRISH MODE OF EXECUTING CRI- 
MINALS. ...WIT. ..-THE CASTLE STATUE OF JUSTICE THE 

LATE LORD KILWARDEN THE LORD MAYOR.. ..A BULL 

MAYORALTY HOUSE. ..SECRETARY TO THE LORD LIEUTENANT... 
A VICEREGAL DEVICE. 

JTROM the Poddle I waded to my hotel. I mounted a jingle 
at the great jingle-stand, at the corner of Bagot-street ; and, after 
passing several beautiful villas, I reached a town called the Black- 
rock, about four miles from Dublin : this town, like Richmond with 
respect to London, is the great summer Sunday attraction of the 
lower class of the good citizens of Dublin. 

The proximity of this great capital to the sea gives it an enviable 
advantage in point of salubrity, as well as beauty. Whilst the inha- 
bitants of most of the capitals are obliged, if health require a marine 
visit, to travel to a considerable distance, with much inconvenience to 
their business or pursuits, the Dublin people can, in their own shops, 
inhale the sea-breeze, and have it in their power, by rising a little 
earlier in the morning, to bathe in the sea, without any disarrange- 
ment to their occupations in life. 

Before I approached the Black-rock, which lies to the south of 
the city, the bay of Dublin superbly opened to the view : it was a vast 
expanse of water, blue and placid as a mirror, rippling only as its flow 
increased upon the shores ; and, at a distance, melting into the cloud- 
less sky which it reflected. The sails of vessels, faintly discernible, 
alone directed the eye to the tender line of its horizon. In front, the 
hill of Howth re-appeared in all its majesty, the craggy sides of which 
the softening hand of distance seemed to have covered, as it were. 



70 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

with a russet robe ; whilst, at the end of a long white line, projecting 
far into the sea, the light-house rose, and resembled a figure of white 
marble rising out of the ocean : a more beautiful scene the eye never 
reposed upon. At low water, the sands along the Black-rock, which 
are very compact, afford a sea-side ride for several miles. Upon the 
sides of this coast is a long chain of equidistant martello towers, 
which, if they have been constructed to embellish the exquisite 
scenery by which they are surrounded, the object of building them 
has been successful ; and the liberality of the late administration can- 
not be too much commended for having raised so many decorations 
of picturesque beauty at the cost of several thousands of pounds, to 
gratify the eyes of the passengers of every packet sailing in and out 
of the bay, at a period when the prosperity of the country is so for- 
cibly illustrated by the trifling amount of its debt. I believe it would 
require the inflamed imagination of the hero of Cervantes to discover 
one possible military advantage which they possess, placed as they 
are at such a distance, on account of the shallowness of the bay, from 
the possibility of annoying a hostile vessel. 

Upon quitting the Black-rock, I visited the villa of a most ami- 
able and respectable family who resided a little beyond it, within 
whose circle I was at all times received with that cordial politeness 
and hospitality, which distinguish the Irish, and by which they so. 
strongly resemble the families of ancient descent still to be found in 
France. 

As it happened in this neighbourhood, I may here mention a 
little occurrence which illustrates the habits of the lower orders of 
the people. At a house where I was, the cook had, for some time 
past, relieved the exertions of culinary toil by copious libations of 
that licjueur ', so dear to the common Irish, commonly called whis- 
key, or " the crature." This indulgence grievously disordered the 
arrangements of the kitchen. A service of twenty-four years, in a 
family too gentle to punish a frailty with severity, pleaded strongly 
for the offender; and, instead of being dismissed, she was sent to 
the lodge, under the care of the gate-keeper, until she had recovered 
her sobriety. Upon an appearance of penitence, her master sent 
her to her priest (for she was a Roman catholic), who, at the next 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 71 

Confession, granted her absolution, upon condition that she Mould 
abstain from whiskey for one whole year. The letter of the catholic 
priest to the master of the servant breathes such mildness, and dis- 
plays such a spirit of Christianity, that the doctrines of the established 
religion, in which I have been reared, ought to urge me rather to 
offer than to withhold it from the reader ; the former of which T 
shall do in its own unaffected language. 

" DEAR SIR, 

" I have been much edified by the compunction of the penitent. 
" you sent me, and by the benevolent solicitude which I see extended 
" to the meanest part of your household. I recalled to her mind an 
" instance of it, in the charitable tenderness which she experienced 
" from you two years ago, when I attended her in a fever. She seems 
u to want neither sensibility nor gratitude. The consciousness of 
" the unworthy returns she has made for all your kindnesses, threw 
" her into a state of agitation that alarmed and melted me. She has 
" made a resolution, which I hope she will adhere to. Alas ! the 
" best of us are but imperfect beings, and our wisest resolutions are 
" frequently and easily overpowered. A conviction that we may 
" want mercy ought to keep us in the constant observance of it ; yet, 
" I trust, from the sincere repentance of this unfortunate woman, 
" that there will be no occasion for your again exercising it towards 
a her for a similar frailty. I have the honour to be, &c, &c." 

The Black-rock and its neighbourhood are filled with the most, 
elegant country-houses, gardens, and plantations, more t numerous, 
and far more beautiful and picturesque, than the villas of Clapham- 
common, to which it may in some respects be compared, and the in- 
habitants are very elegant and sociable. The land is very rich and 
valuable, and lets from ten to twenty-five pounds an acre. Near 
the Black -rock, in Still-organ park, is a noble obelisk, upwards of one 
hundred feet high, supported by a rustic basement, having a double 
stair-case on each side, leading to a platform which surrounds the 
structure. It was erected in the year 1739 by lord Carysfort, for 
the purpose of affording employment and support to the neighbour- 



72 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

ing poor in a very severe winter. The view from it is superb ; and 
its history, which is traditionary only, for, with the characteristic of 
true charity, it has no inscription to tell the name of its b untiful 
founder, excites in the mind of a stranger an impression highly fa- 
vourable to the beneficent spirit of the Irish nation. In other places 
in Ireland, I have seen similar monuments, which have been raised 
from the same benevolent motive. 

In the neighbourhood of the Black-rock* and in other parts of 
Ireland, I saw a taste in building displayed, which is rarely exhibited 
in England. The drawing-room frequently opens through a large 
arch, elegantly festooned with drapery, into a green-house, or rather 
another room of glass, which is filled with rare plants and beautiful 
flowers, tastefully arranged, round which are walks finely gravelled, 
and at night the whole is lighted up by patent reflectors, and has 
a singularly beautiful appearance. 

Upon my return to town, I visited the new gaol called Newgate, 
which is not shown without a special order or letter from a magis- 
trate. This building is erected on the north side of the city, the 
foundation-stone of which was laid by the right honourable lord An- 
naly, lord chief justice of the court of king's-bench, on the 28th 
October, 1773, and the whole was designed and built by Mr. Cooiey, 
and cost about sixteen thousand pounds. It is a large quadrangular 
building, extending one hundred and seventy feet in front, and about 
the same in depth : the sides are of lime-stone, and the front of moun- 
tain-stone rusticated, and at each external angle is a round tower. 
On the left side of the entrance is the guard-room, and to the right 
are the gaoler's apartments. A little beyond the gate-way is a door 
that leads to the press-yards ; one of them on the left hand is for the 
men, from which there is a passage to the apartment in the east 
front, for those who turn evidence for the crown, and adjoining is a 
large room for the transports. The cells are in the felons' squares, 
communicating with the press-yards. There are twelve cells on 
each floor, with a stair-case to each side Before the cells is a gal- 
lery, terminated by the priviesflS In the prisoners' yards are two 
common halls, where they are allowed to walk, and to have fires in 
the winter. The condemned cells are below the east front. Water 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 73 

is conveyed to the different cells by an engine, from a cistern in the 
centre of the south side ; and on each side of the cistern is the infir- 
mary, in which, as in every other part of the building, the sexes are 
separated. Over the entrance is the chapel, which communicates 
with the " gallows-room," in which is a windlass and machinery for 
raising or depressing the bodies of criminals when they are executed, 
which awful ceremony takes place on the outside of a grated window, 
even with the floor, in the centre of the front of the building, which 
opens upon a grating or platform of iron bars, projecting over the 
street, having a railing about breast-high : about nine feet above this 
platform is a long cross-bar of iron resting upon two projecting bars ; 
over the centre of the cross-bar the axe of the law is represented in 
iron, and below it two pullies are fixed, through each of which a cord 
runs from the windlass upon pullies, and which cord is fastened to 
the fatal halter ; upon a signal given, the executioner pulls a lever, 
which detaches the bolt of the grating or platform upon which the 
malefactor stands, who, upon its falling down upon its hinges, be- 
comes suspended with a sudden jerk, which frequently shortens the 
agonies of death. Upon this machine only two criminals can be 
executed at the same time. As long as a mode of putting capital 
offenders to death, so cruel and procrastinating as that of hanging, 
is resorted to, the construction of the fatal apparatus in the gaols in 
Dublin, and other parts of Ireland, appears to be the best for that 
purpose. 

In London, a vast square machine, containing the platform, act- 
ing upon the same principle as that of Dublin, is drawn out from the 
place where it is usually kept, to the debtor's door, Newgate, with* 
which it is connected by a temporary wooden building : the wretched 
sufferers are frequently disturbed in their midnight devotions by the. 
sound of hammers, and the noise of workmen, in completing this 
stage of death ; and the expences of every execution in this manner 
costs the city of London a considerable sum of money ; whereas in 
Dublin, from the apparatus being of iron, and stationary, the cost is 
very trifling. 

It is a gloomy subject to discuss, but I cannot help observing, 
tUat the apparatus in Dublin might be better made to answer the 

K 



74 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

purposes of justice and humanity, by having* a wooden box fixed un« 
der the falling grate or leaf, into which the body of the malefactor 
might partly descend, instead of its being so horribly exposed at 
such a height from the ground : there are frequent instances of 
some of the miserable wretches who have been brought out to die, 
having been precipitated to the pavement below, from some misma- 
nagement of the rope, by which they have been shockingly torn 
and mangled before they could be finally dispatched. The subject 
above-mentioned is highly worthy of the consideration of the city of 
London. The prisoners in the Newgate of Dublin were compara- 
tively few, and I did not see one of them on the felon side in irons ; 
a circumstance which must be thought highly creditable to the hu- 
manity of those who have the superintendence of the prison. 

The lower classes of the Irish people have wit for every subject, 
even the most gloomy. When this mode of executing criminals 
was first introduced, a fellow said of a comrade of his, who had just 
been convicted of felony, " By my faith and shoul, Pat has not 
:c long to live, he will be off 'with the fall of the leaf," alluding to 
the machine which I have described, and the sickly season of au- 
tumn. This reminds one of the extraordinary talent for badinage, 
which terror and even the approach of death can rarely suppress in 
a Frenchman's mind. During the revolution, the infliction of death 
by the guillotine was popularly called " looking through the little 
6i national window," alluding to the hole through which the neck of 
the sufferer was placed. At another execution in Ireland, the hang- 
man having received a present from a malefactor whom he was 
about to execute, used a phrase of gratitude which was always upon 
his lips whenever he had received a kindness, and without reflecting 
that some little alteration in it was necessary upon this occasion, 
exclaimed, " Ah ! many thanks and long life to your honour," and 
immediately pulled the iron and launched him into eternity. 

I was someAvhat disappointed in viewing the Castle, the town- 
palace of the viceroy, and his court. This building was commen- 
ced in the year 1205, and finished in 1213, under the auspices 
of Henry de Londres, archbishop of Dublin and lord justice of 
Ireland: it afterwards went to decay, and the chief governors wevr 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 75 

obliged to keep their court at St. Sepulchre's, Kilmainham, and St. 
Thomas's Abbey. History says, that in the reign of John it was a 
place of considerable strength, moated and flanked with towers. It 
was not used for the viceroy's palace till the reign of queen Eliza- 
beth. The upper castle-yard, the principal part of the building? 
where the viceregal apartments are, is an oblong square, and much 
re >embles, in gloom and unroyal-like appearance, the palace of St. 
James's. In the southern range is a neat edifice, called the Bed- 
ford Tower, having a front decorated with a small arcade of three 
arches, surmounted by an octagon steeple, with a cupola. This 
tower fronts the viceroy's apartments, and is connected with the 
building on each side by two gates, upon which are two handsome 
statues of Justice and Fortitude. These statues are worthy of no- 
tice, more on account of their rarity, than their superior excellence ; 
for Dublin is certainly very defective in statuary. It is to be hoped, 
from the known munificence of the country, that the proposed 
statue to our immortal hero Nelson, about to adorn this capital, will 
in some measure prevent future travellers from finding cause for the * 
same observation. Birmingham Tower, at the western extremity 
of the Castle, remained until the year 1775, when it was taken down, 
and rebuilt in 1777, and is now called Harcourt Tower. It was 
formerly a state prison ; at present the ancient records of Ireland 
are kept in it. The keeper of these archives in the viceroyalty of 
the earl of Wharton was his secretary, the celebrated Addison, for 
whom the salary of the office was raised from ten pounds to five 
hundred pounds per annum. I did not see any thing worthy of 
much admiration in the viceregal -apartments ; perhaps my eye has 
been too much dazzled by the blaze and magnificence of the palaces 
in the north of Europe, to contemplate the exterior and internal ar~ 
rangements of the Castle so favourably as I ought. The council 
chamber is a good-sized room, but little embellished; and the 
throne is not so shabby as some of those seats of majesty to be seen 
in the palaces in England. St. Patrick's Hall is a noble room, and 
its ceiling has been lately painted with appropriate allegorical sub- 
jects by an ingenious artist named Waldre. The parliament and 
courts of justice were formerly held in the Castle till the rebellion 



76 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

of 1641, and from thence to the restoration. In the building con 
taming the grand entrance to the Castle, are the apartments of the 
master of the ceremonies, and other officers of state. 

It was at the gate of the Castle over which the statue of Justice 
appeal's, during the tumults in Thomas-street in the year 1803, that 
tfae amiable daughter of the upright and enlightened lord Kilwar- 
w rden presented herself to the guard stationed there, half distract d 
with the honor of having seen her father and cousin, the Rev. Mr. 
Wolfe, torn from their carriage by a set of desperadoes, and mor- 
tally pierced by her side with pikes. For some time the soldier on 
duty, observing her without shoes, covered with mud, her frenzied 
eye and faultering voice, regarded her as a maniac. It wak the first 
information of this insurrectional movement which the government 
received, or having received, regarded. In the lower Castle-yard 
are the treasury and other offices, and near them are buildings for 
keeping military stores, and an arsenal and armoury for forty thou- 
sand men. 

One day I was present at the swearing in of the lord mayor of 
Dublin, in whom and the recorder, two sheriffs, and twenty -four 
aldermen, and a common-council formed of representatives from 
the twenty -five corporations, the civil government of the city is in- 
vested. The ceremony took place in the presence of the late lord- 
lieutenant, the earl of Hardwicke : after the chief magistrate had 
been sworn in, he was addressed by baron George, one of the 
judges, who made a very elegant speech upon the occasion, in 
which he conjured the lord mayor, in the discharge ®f his impor- 
tant duties, to dismiss from his mind all religious distinctions, and 
as a magistrate to consider the catholic and the protestant as 
equally entitled to his protection. May the beneficent sentiment 
be impressed upon the mind of every one placed in authority ! 

Upon my descending into the court-yard, before the chief ma- 
gistrate had retired, I found an immense crowd to witness the state 
and show which were exhibited on this day of civic parade. I had 
been in Ireland some time, and had been wofully disappointed in not 
having heard one bull ; I thought it impossible that amongst so many 
persons I should not be gratified, and in a few minutes »the event: 






THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 77 

turned out just as I expected. Curiosity induced a fine fresh-faced 
girl to get behind one of the carriages in the Castle-yard ; the mob 
laughed, and the coachman drove her round the circle ; a footman 
in the viceregal livery exclaimed, " That woman is the first footman 
I ever saw in petticoats." To be quite sure that the man was an 
Irishman, I went up to him, inquired where he came from, and 
found that he came from Cambridgeshire. 

The equipage of the lord mayor and sheriffs was not remark- 
able either for taste or splendour. The state-carriage wanted re- 
gilding, and the halberdiers or javelin-men new clothing ; and I 
think, amongst people so fond of music, a fuller and better band 
would be desirable. The Mansion or Mayoralty-house, in Dawson- 
street, is a spacious house, but unsuitable to the dignity of its pos- 
sessors. In the garden is an equestrian statue of George I, which 
formerly stood on Essex-bridge ; and in the parlours, I was informed, 
there are tolerable portraits of Charles II, William III, the dukes 
of Bolton and Richmond, the marquisses Townsend and Bucking- 
ham, the earls of Northumberland, Harcourt, and Buckingham- 
shire, and alderman Henry Gore Sankey. 

The style of living of the viceroy combines ease with majesty. 
His levees are entirely governed by his will and pleasure. He has 
generally one morning levee in the week, at which the viceroy, and 
ihose who have the honour of being introduced to him, appear in 
morning dresses. Upon state occasions he moves with body guards, 
and is attended by his pages, aide-de-camps, and officers of his 
household. His principal place of residence is in the Phcenix-park, 
distant about one mile and a half from Dublin. 

It has been the fate of the Irish to have had, for more than a 
century past, a rapid succession of rulers. Much of the ignorance 
which government has displayed, of the real genius and condition of 
the country, has arisen from the rapid changes which have taken 
place in the appointment of the principal minister of Ireland, the 
secretary of the lord lieutenant : the hours of whose political ex- 
istence are numbered the moment he lands at the Pigeon-house. 
During the shortness of his stay, his avocations familiarize him 



78 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

principally with' the objects which are to be found between the Phce- 
nix-park and the Castle. 

" Is the new secretary come over in the last packet ?" is a 
question very familiar to the loungers at the club-houses and gene- 
ral post-office. So accustomed to these changes are the Irish, that 
a lord lieutenant once had scarcely received from England all the 
packages which were necessary to his rank and comfort, before an 
unauthorized report obtained that he was to be removed. The 
viceroy, on this occasion, hit upon an admirable expedient for dis- 
solving the rumour, by ordering his gardener to make him an asjia- 
ragm-bed in the Phoenix-park garden. It is scarcely necessary to 
observe, that an asparagus-bed is some years before it reaches per- 
fection. 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE CIRCULAR ROAD THE BRIDGES FIRE, FLOODS, AND 

TEMPESTS, GREAT IMPJROVERS WESTMINSTER AND ESSEX 

BRIDGES COMPARED ST. STEPHEN'S GREEN LYING-IN 

HOSPITAL AND OTHER BUILDINGS POSTING NEW MODE 

OF REPAIRING A POST-CHAISE. ...A PRINT. ...A LUCKY MILE.... 
ADDRESS TO A DRIVER. ...THE DARGLE DESCRIBED. ...LINES.... 
THE CONTRAST ROSANNA DEVIL'S GLEN DWYER FI- 
DELITY. 

AFTER quitting the Castle, as the day proved very fine, I 
mounted a jingle, and took an airing on the circular road which sur- 
rounds the city, and has been made on the scite of the old Danish 
wall, formerly erected for the protection of the capital : the view 
almost every where on this superb road is delightful, and well worthy 
of a stranger's early attention. The bridges which cross the river 
Liffey at Dublin, of which there are seven, are very handsome ; as 
they very soon attracted my notice, it may be as well to describe 
them all here. The most beautiful is Sarah's bridge, so called from 
Sarah, countess of Westmoreland, who on the 22d June, 1795, laid 
its foundation-stone ; it stands near the Phoenix-park, at the western 
end of the city, has one arch, extends three hundred and sixty feet, 
and is thirty -eight feet broad : the arch is an ellipsis, whose span 
measures one hundred and four feet, which is twelve feet wider than 
the Rialto at Venice : the key-stone is twenty-two feet above high- 
water mark ; and its breadth on the top within the parapets or 
plinths thirty-eight feet, including two nagged foot-ways of six feet on 
each side. Near this bridge stood Island-bridge, built by queen Eli 
zabeth, in 1557 ; and hence Sarah-bridge is called by some of the in- 
habitants Island-bridge. Barrack-bridge, formerly called Bloody- 
bridge, was built in 1671, being originally constructed of wood; four 



80 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

persons lost their lives in endeavouring to pull it down ; it is not worth/ 
of farther notice. Queen's-bridge stands upon the scite of Arrant 
bridge, and was finished in 1768. It has three arches, is one 
hundred and forty feet in length, with flagged foot-passages, stone 
balustrades, and ornamental decorations, in a style of considerable 
taste ; the whole was executed under the inspection of general 
Vallancey. The old bridge is a crazy, dirty, wretched pile of an- 
tiquity, and was rebuilt in 1428 ; the sooner it shares the fate of its 
former hoary brother, called Ormond-bridge, which fell before the 
floods of December 1 803, the better. 

Fire, floods, and tempests, although not the most welcome, are 
in general the most powerful patrons of architectural improvements. 
Essex-bridge is very beautiful; it was commenced in 1753, under 
the direction of Mr. George bemple : it is Westminster-bridge in 
miniature, which, upon a reduced scale, it resembles in every stone. 
The spans of the middle arches are to each other as three to five ; 
their length as one to four. The breadth of Westminster-bridge, 
from the extremities of the parapets or plinths under the balustrade, 
is forty-four feet ; at Essex-bridge it is fifty-one feet. Westminster- 
bridge was eleven years nine months and twenty-one days in build- 
ing.; Essex-bridge was one year five months and twenty-one days. 
The former cost two hundred and eighteen thousand eight hundred 
pounds sterling, the latter twenty thousand six hundred and sixty- 
one pounds sterling. The breadth of Essex-bridge is well propor- 
tioned to its height, and counterpoised by a strong foundation built 
in coffer dams. 

Carlisle-bridge stands in a noble situation, and concentrates in. 
one view the finest parts of Dublin : it has three arches, the centre 
is forty -eight feet wide : the length of the whole is one hundred and 
fifty feet, and its breadth between the balustrades sixty feet, which is 
wider by ten feet than Westminster-bridge. The approach to it on 
either side is gradual. The arches are executed with bright moun- 
tain granite, and the cornice balustrade at top, with part of the piers, 
are composed of Portland stone, and form a contrast by. their diffe- 
rent tints. The structure is a noble one, and the whole was designed 
and executed by Mr. Gandon, to whose taste and genius the city is 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 81> 

much indebted. The highly-merited celebrity of tl is gentleman 
induces me with great deference to observe, that I think this bridge 
would be improved by the removal of the four obelisks, whidh are 
placed at each end of the sides as ornaments. From this bridge 
the passenger has a fine view of the shipping and custom-house, 
and from its south, the portico of the house of lords and the college 
present a magnificent appearance, and resemble the superb architec- 
tural view at the entrance of the Linden-walk in the beautiful city of 
Berlin, looking towards the opera-house. 

The river is seldom enlivened by the appearance of boats : there 
is a ferry-boat which plies near the ruins of Ormond-bridge. It is 
in contemplation, I am informed, to embank the sides of the river, 
through the city, with granite ; should this be accomplished, it will 
be a beautiful improvement, and may perhaps lead to the river 
being frequented by pleasure-boats. 

The largest square in Dublin is St. Stephen's-green, which is 
nearly an English mile in circumference. It is a fine meadow, 
walled and planted with a double row of trees, but is disfigured by a 
dirty ditch formed on every side, the receptacle of dead cats and 
dogs. In the centre is an equestrian statue cf George the second, 
by Van Nort. The houses on each side are most of them very 
noble buildings ; their want of uniformity, owing to the vast space 
of the area, is not objectionable. If this square were handsomely 
railed round and planted, and the ditch filled up, it would be one of 
the most magnificent in Europe. 

The Lying-in Hospital is situated in Britain-street, but the ro- 
tunda and contiguous apartments form a termination to part of 
Sackville -street, and are seen from Carlisle-bridge. The fuont of 
the hospital is built of the mountain-stone ; over the entrance in the 
centre is the chapel ; the remainder of the building is appropriated 
to wards for women, with apartments for the nurses, physicians^ Sec, 
Sec. ; the centre of the hospital is finished with a steeple, and on' each 
side of this building are colonnades of the Doric order ; that towards 
the east communicates with the entrance to the rotunda, which is 
seventy -two feet diameter: the inside is decorated by a number of 
fluted Corinthian pilasters : at one side a grand orchestra, between 

L 



82 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

the pilasters are ornamented windows, and beneath are recesses be* 
tween the pedestals of the pilasters. On the east side of the rotunda, 
and communicating with it, has lately been erected a very elegant 
building, ornamented with a rusticated basement : over the entrance 
in the centre are four columns of the Doric order, with its entablature 
and a pediment. There are several noble apartments, intended for 
card and supper rooms, Sec, Sec. The profits arising from the social 
meetings, which are held there as well as in the rotunda, are applied 
in support of this valuable institution. To make pleasure contribute 
to the consolation of the wretched, I found by no means unusual. 
The gardens behind the hospital have been lately surrounded with 
an iron railing, set on a low mountain-stone wall, connecting pavilions 
at the north-east and north-west angles, with columns of the Doric 
order, which, with the trees behind, produce a very pleasing effect. 

The Blue-coat Hospital forms a termination to Blackhall-street ; 
the first stone of this building was laid by the earl of Harcourt, lord 
lieutenant of Ireland, on the 16th of June, 1773; the centre contains 
apartments for the principal officers and their servants, a committee 
room, record room, and a handsome board-room for the governors to 
meet in. The front is enriched in the centre by four Ionic columns, 
supporting a pediment ; over this the steeple is intended to rise one 
hundred and thirty feet from the ground, enriched by Corinthian and 
composite pilasters. On one side of this building stands the chapel, 
and on the other the school, forming the two wings of the building ; 
the whole front extends three hundred and sixty feet. Both the 
wings are united to the centre building by handsome circular walls? 
ornamented with a balustrade and niches : this building is from the 
design of Mr. Ivory. 

The linen and yarn-halls form a building of considerable extent, 
composed of various squares, built at different periods, some of rough 
masonry and others of white mountain-stone, in a plain substantial 
style of architecture. The rapid increase of the linen manufacture, 
and the sales at this hall, have rendered the late considerable additions 
necessary, which are, with the other parts, well constructed for the 
purposes of their application. 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. S3 

At the west end of the town, and situated in a fine and conspicu- 
ous situation, stands the Royal Hospital of Kilmainham, a large com- 
modious building, founded in 1695, for the reception of superan- 
nuated veterans, and those who have been, by sickness or by chance 
of war, rendered incapable of serving their country in a military capa- 
city. On the opposite side of the river are the barracks, the largest 
building of the kind in the British dominions, and probably in Europe. 
They are capable of containing three thousand foot, and five hundred 
horse: the old, or principal part, is of rough stone, ornamented with 
cornices, and window-cases of cut stone. Within a few years, to the 
east, a new square of considerable extent, of white mountain-stone, 
has been added to the buildings ; its character is that of extreme 
plainness, but perfectly suitable and convenient. Near the barracks. 
is situated the Military Hospital, on a fine healthy and commanding 
situation in the Phoenix-park : the front is built of the mountain-stone,, 
and consists of a centre, and two wings with pediments, finished with 
a cornice and a small cupola; the whole forming a pleasing and pic- 
turesque appearance: this design, with some little alteration, was 
made by Mr. Gandon. 

The other public buildings are the Hibernian and Marine Schools^ 
the Foundling, Stephen's, Swift's, Simpson's, and the Meath Hospi- 
tals, but none of these possess any superior architectural beauties. 

The most distinguished private houses are those of the duke of 
Leinster and the lords Charlemont, Tyrone, and Powerscourt ; the 
two first of those houses are highly becoming the residence of a 
nobleman. 

I did not observe that any of the churches possessed any particular 
beauty worth describing: that of St. Thomas's possesses the best 
front, which is said to be a copy of Pailadio's celebrated church at 
Venice. St. George's, when finished, will be handsome. 

As the weather was exceedingly beautiful, I resolved upon mak- 
ing an excursion into the county of Wicklow, and to leave the city 
for future observation and description. In this ramble I had the hap« 
piness of being accompanied by an enlightened and amiable friend, 
who augmented the pleasure of every scene. The summer still ex- 
tended its sway beyond the ordinany period of its reign ; and although 



84 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

the season of autumn was arrived, not a leaf denoted decay. Having 
made an appointment to meet a gentleman, who undertook to be 
our guide to the most striking of the many scenes which adorn that 
favoured county, at an early hour, at Newry -bridge, we set off before 
the dawn of morning peeped upon us. Our driver, post-chaise, 
and horses, were not so neat as a posting equipage in England; but, 
however, they were all well enough. 

The Irish in this respect are much improved, I am told, although 
they are unquestionably behind us ; yet, after England, they are supe- 
rior to any other country that I have seen in the comforts of convey- 
ance. In one of the remote counties there was only one post-chaise 
for some years ; and as precious things, like good persons, are gene- 
rally the objects of misfortune, an unlucky contusion disabled the 
door of this rare vehicle : the carpenter was called in to repair it, but 
it was beyond his art. The bricklayer was next applied to, and proud 
of the opportunity of displaying his skill, he very neatly bricked and 
plastered it up, and the chaise, with some little obliquity, performed 
its duty very well for some time after. In the very focus of taste, 
in Paris, it was the fashion last year to paint the carriages to resem- 
ble stone and marble. Who would blush in rouge, if they could pro- 
cure the rosy tint of nature ? Who would ride in a marble-coloured 
carriage, when they could move in one of real substantial brick? I 
have seen, in our print-shops, a delineation of Irish posting. A 
knight of St. Patrick is represented in the act of setting of? in a post- 
chaise with a thatched roof, upon which a cock is scratching for 
grain ; the knight's feet having pierced through the front and bottom 
of the carriage. He appeals to be impatient at the delay of the horses, 
and the following words are put into the mouth of a great brawny 
driver: " Forward immediately, your honour; but, sure, a'nt I wait- 
" ing for the girl with the poker, just to give this mare a burn, your 
" honour: 'tis just to make her start, your honour." All this is very 
humorous, but happens to be very false. 

The laws of posting in Ireland require that one shilling shall be 
paid if one or two persons engage a chaise ; but if three, then eigh- 
teen-pcnce per Irish mile. Eleven Irish miles are equal to fourteen 
English. A lucky mile means a long one ; for the Irish miles vary 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 85 

not a little: why so called I could not learn. « Now, Pat ! mind you 
" drive the gentleman beautiful" were the farewell words of the 
waiter at our hotel, upon which Pat drove us furiously over the 
stones, whilst the iron steps within, but not fastened, kept dancing all 
the way to a clatter which rendered our tongues useless, and our 
ears burthensome, until we had passed the barrier, which was raised) 
with many others, at the entrance of the city, during the rebellion 
Soon after which we saw 

" The gTey-eyM Mom smile on the frowning Night, 
" Checkering the eastern clouds with streaks of light:" 

when we were enabled to discern a beautiful country, and one of the 
finest broad and level roads I ever travelled upon. Our first stage 
was to Bray. Our roue lay through line plantations, embellished 
with elegant houses, and fields and meadows, in which every symp- 
tom of good husbandry appeared. 

We passed through Dundrum, a very pretty village about three 
miles and a half from Dublin. Near the four-mile stone is Moreen, 
a very picturesque situation : it is remarkable for a desperate battle 
which was fought, some centuries since, by two neighbouring fami- 
lies, who, having satiated their revenge, very piously erected a 
church in the valley where the battle was fought ; but whether in 
expiation of their infuriated rage, or to perpetuate the history of it, 
ancient story does not tell. Not far from Moreen, is the castle and 
church of Kilgobbin. The frequent recurrence of names of places 
beginning with kill is not a little alarming to a stranger in Ireland, 
more especially if he be under the influence of those stupid preju- 
dices which have been excited against that country. I have just 
enumerated, in my memory, no less than forty-nine of those kill 
places. The name produced the following ridiculous mistake : when 
some of our militia regiments were in Ireland during the rebellion, 
a soldier, a native of Devonshire, who was stationed at an outpost, 
stopped a countryman, and demanded who he was, whence he came 
from, and whether he was going. The fellow replied : " Ana my 
" name, my dear honey, is Tullyhog ; and, d'ye see, I am just been 



36 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

" to Killmanny, and am going to Killmore?' Upon which the cen* 
tincl immediately seized him, expecting to receive a high reward for 
having apprehended a most sanguinary rebel, by confession, just 
come from murder, and going to a fresh banquet of blood. 

The first grand and extraordinary object which we met with 
.was a chasm which some vast convulsion of nature seemed to have 
formed, by having forced its way through a mighty mountain, and 
divided it into elevated ridges of detached grey rock and massy 
stones, which, projecting in a variety of forms, looked ready to roll 
down, with rum and havock in their train, into the valley below, 
through which the road turned. This wonderful aperture is called 
the Scalp, of which I made a sketch, more for its extraordinary ap- 
pearance than picturesque beauty. Between its craggy slopes, a 
contrasted level country, well cultivated, gradually swelling at a dis- 
tance, and closed by the mountains called the Sugar-loaves, pushing 
their dusky tops into the skies, presented an interesting and very 
singular view. 

As we descended to the beautiful village of Inniskerry, on one 
side the eye reposed upon rich meadows ; on the other, a slope of 
trees presented a compact shade. Before us, as the road, enlivened 
by passing peasants, turned over a picturesque bridge, a neat farm- 
house presented itself; and a village-school, standing in the bottom 
of the valley, just peeped with its upper windows above the level: 
whilst a hill, lightly clothed with young wood, extended a rich screen 
behind. Expressions of delight burst at the same moment from both 
of us: it was Auburn, in all its pristine loveliness. 

As we wished to walk through the Dargle, we alighted from ouy 
chaise near a beautiful cottage upon the domains of lord viscount 
Powerscourt, and ordered our driver to go to the principal entrance 
of the Dargle, about two miles distant. We had scarcely measured 
one hundred feet from the cottage, before, as we stood upon an emi- 
nence, a new world of rural beauty opened upon us, of rich vallies 
and mountains covered with wood, melting into the air : whilst below 
a serpentine river glistened in the sun, until it lost itself in the Dar- 
gle, whither we followed its course.* Impossible as it is to convey, by 
verbal painting, a just idea of this exquisite scene, I approach au at- 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 87 

tempt to describe it with considerable apprehension. The Dargle 
is a deep glen, or narrow valley, of about a mile in length ; at the 
entrance where we approached it, opposite to us a beautiful little 
pleasure-cottage peeped over the ridge of one of the hills which 
form the green-breasted sides of this glen; it was just discernible in 
a little plantation which crowned the precipice upon which it stood : 
this elegant and romantic little summer retreat was raised after the 
tasteful design of Mrs. Grattan, the lady of the illustrious member 
of that name, to whom it belongs. As we descended by the paths 
which have been cut through the woods, new beauties opened upon us. 
The hill, on the sides of which we stood, and its opposite neighbour, 
were covered with trees, principally young oak, projecting with luxu- 
riant foliage from masses of rock half green with moss, which re- 
minded us of Milton's description of the 

" Verdurous wall of Paradise upraised." 

Here, concealed by over-arching leaves, the river, like fretful man in 
his progress through this unequal world, was scarcely heard to rip- 
ple ; there it flashed before the eye again, as if in anger at its con- 
cealment, rolled impetuously over its rocky bed, and roared down a 
craggy declivity ; a little further, having recovered its calmness, it 
seemed to settle for a while, resembling, in sullen silence and placi- 
dity, a dark mirror ; then, never destined to long tranquillity, it pro- 
ceeded, and was again lost in arches of foliage, under which it mur- 
mured, and died upon the ear. 

It was in this spot, under the green roofs of native oaks starting 
from their rocky beds, sequestered from the theatre of that world 
upon which he afterwards sustained so distinguished a character, 
that Grattan, when a very young man, addressed the tumultuous 
waters as his auditory, and schooled himself, like Demosthenes, in 
that eloquence which was destined to elevate the glory of Ireland 
with his own. 

We lingered for some time in a rustic temple, whose back and 
seats were formed of intertwisted branches, softened by moss, and 
whose arches opened upon ©ne of the most favoured spots of the 



88 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

Dargle: it seemed to be suspended, like an aeronautic car, from 
some vast impending oaks, which spread far over it an umbrella of 
leaves. In this spot the imagination wandered through all the 
witcheries of fable, and invoked the naiad and the wood nymph ; and 
upon my memory stole the following exquisite, but irregular, lines 
of a brilliant fancy, which were written and presented to me by one 
of the friends of my boyhood, Charles Leftley, Esq., a youth of high 
and richly cultivated genius, who died in the bloom of life. 

Zephyr, whither art thou straying ? 

Tell me where : 
With prankish girls in gardens playing. 

False as fair. 



A butterfly's light back bestriding, 
Queen-bees to honeysuckles guiding, 
Or in a swinging hair-bell riding, 
Free from care. 

Before Aurora's car you amble 

High in air ; 
At noon, when Neptune's sea-nymphs gambol. 

Braid their hair. 



When on the tumbling billows rolling, 
Or on the smooth sands idly strolling, 
Or in cool grottoes they lye lolling, 
You sport there. 

To chase the moon-beams up the mountains 

You prepare ; 
Or dance with elves on brinks of fountains, 

Mirth to share . 

Now seen with love-lorn lillies weeping, 
Now with a blushing rose-bud sleeping; 
Whilst fays from forth their chambers peeping. 
Cry, oh rare ! 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 89 

We ascended the Lover's-leap, a vast high grey rock, whose base 
is concealed bv sloping trees : it rises higher than any other object, 
and commands a very extensive view of this verdant scenery, which 
travellers, who have visited Italy, pronounce to be equal to any spot 
in that benign climate. 

Heavens ! what a contrast to the luxuriant richness of this scenery 
has Mr. A. Young given us, in his clear and invaluable account of 
Ireland, when he speaks of that vast, wild, and impenetrable tract of 
mountain and bog, called the barony of Erris. " It is no easy matter 
" to get in or out of it in winter ; and very few persons ever attempt 
" it from November to Easter, having impassable bogs in the way. 
" There were eight hundred and ninety -six families in the barony 
" in 1765, four hundred of which are inhabitants of the Mullet; 
" forty-seven protestant, and eight hundred and forty-nine popish. 
" The bishop of Killalia has built a house in the Mullet for a clergy- 
" man, who resides there ; the living is between fifty and sixty pounds 
" a year, and forty acres of land, which the bishop has given 
" from the see-lands. This may truly be called a sphere for content 
" and the philosophic virtues to exert themselves in. There is not 
" a post-house, market-town, or justice of peace, in the whole barony, 
M which is also the case with another barony in this county, Costello. 
il A post-house and a market are excellent things ; but a jus- 

* tice may very well be dispensed with. There are many herds of 
" small cattle, and some sheep kept, which are sold from thence. 
" There is not a tree in the whole barony of Erris : a man going out 
" of it to pay his rent, his son with him, a lad of near twenty ; when 

* he came near Killalia, and saw a tree, 'Lord) father! what is that? 9 
" But bare of wood as it is at present, it was, in the sylvan age of 
" Ireland, completely covered: for in no part of the kingdom is there 
" found more or larger in the bogs." 

The Dargle is part of the ample and beautiful domains of lord 
viscount Powerscourt, who, with a liberality worthy of his rank and 
mind, permits every one to visit it, and has erected seats in various 
parts of it for the accommodation of the public. We quitted this 
scene with mingled emotions of delight and regret, and entering our 

M 



90 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

chaise at the principal gate, proceeded through a rich and romantic 
country to the town of Bray. 

This town, which is near the sea, has a very neat and respecta- 
ble appearance : it is about eleven miles from Dublin, and stands on 
the verge of the Counties of Dublin and Wicklow, which, as well as 
the town, are divided by a river abounding with excellent trout. This 
place has two annual fairs, at which black cattle and sheep, and large 
quantities of frize and flannel, are sold ; and is much resorted to dur- 
ing the seasons for drinking goat's-whey and sea-bathing. It has a 
church, a Roman catholic chapel, good barracks, several lodging- 
houses, and, in its neighbourhood, are several elegant country seats. 
The post-chaises which belong to the principal inn here are the best 
in Ireland, and are inscribed, in great letters, with the word " Quin- 
" bray," which I thought was the name of the owner ; but, upon in 
quiry, I found that he was only entitled to the first half, and that the 
other half of the word belonged to the town. 

Here we took a fresh chaise, and proceeded to Newry-bridgej 
where we found an old, but very comfortable inn. Our fish, meatj 
wine, beds, and waiters, all were good. This spot we made our head 
quarters, and strongly recommend them to every future Wicklow 
wanderer. 

The first place we visited was Rosanna, the seat of Mrs. Tighe s 
the house appears to be a comfortable brick mansion ; the grounds, 
abounding with the most beautiful arbutuses, holly, and ash-trees, 
are perfectly Arcadian. Genius may advance considerable claims to 
share the celebrity of the spot with Nature : it was the residence^ 
whilst I was there, of a most amiable and elegant-minded lady, form- 
ed to embellish her sex with its purest attributes, and to enlighten 
society by the charms of a cultivated mind and rich imagination. 
Alas ! in the exercise of these precious endowments, she is destined 
to exhihit, to a wide circle of admiring, affectionate, and anxious 
friends, with what serenity the gentle spirit of innocence, supported 
by piety, can endure the pangs of sickness, and how the energies of 
genius can brighten in the gloom of affliction. An invincible timidity, 
and the dread of exciting the animadversions of those who have so 
much influence upon the public opinion through the channels of 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 91 

criticism, have at present confined to a small circle of friends, a printed 
poem which, although my perusal of it was limited, would, I can 
with confidence say, entitle the fair authoress to the admiration, 
without an appeal to the gallantry, of the candid reviewer, and would 
render the name of Psyche more memorable, and inscribe the name 
of Tighe high upon the roll of feminine celebrity. In the construc- 
tion of this poem, Mrs. H. Tighe has displayed great fancy, and 
much richness and variety of language. If these few remarks should 
have any influence to induce the fair writer to a more diffuse publi= 
cation of a work so interesting, I shall at least make some atonement 
for the errors of that by which it is recommended. 

From Rosanna we proceeded to Glenmore-castle, through the 
most rich and romantic country. The castle, the seat of Francis 
Synge, Esq., has not yet received the hoary tints of time ; some of 
its battlements were constructing at the time of my visit ; but wjien 
it is completed, and well coloured by the elements, it will be a fine 
object. At a little distance it seems to impend over a vast abrupt 
precipice, from which it commands a superb view of the country, 
and the entrance of the celebrated Devil's-glen, into which we des- 
cended through a well-planted shrubbery. 

The glen is a valley, the bottom and side of which are com- 
posed of rocks : one side was till lately covered with trees, principally 
oak ; the other was always much denuded, which must have afford- 
ed a fine contrast. At the further end, the river Vartrey, after vio- 
lent rains, falls with astonishing fury from a height of one hundred 
feet, and runs through the glen amongst the rocks that compose its 
bottom. During the rebellion, these unfrequented depths frequently 
afforded shelter and concealment to its routed followers. Groups of 
such figures must have augmented the gloomy grandeur of the 
scene, and rendered it a subject worthy of the pencil of a Salvator. 

It was here, and in the neighbouring mountains, that Dwyer, a 
rebel chieftain, as celebrated as three-fingered Jack, contrived to 
elude the hot and persevering pursuit of justice for a period almost 
unexampled. Although the virtue of singular incorruptibility was 
displayed in a bad cause, yet it loses nothing of its intrinsic value on 
that account. The remuneration offered by the government for the 



92 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

discovery of this daring chief, who so long hovered near the capital 
after his followers had been routed and reduced, was very great, and 
presented a temptation to betray, which in another country would 
scarcely have been resisted ; but wherever this arch ruffian avowed 
himself, and claimed the protection of hospitality, his person was 
held sacred ; and, in the midst of rags and penury, a bribe, which 
would have secured independence to the betrayer, was rejected with 
scorn. 

In Waller's time their secrecy and fidelity in all their engage- 
ments were remarkable ; that poet, when the Sofihy appeared, said 
of the author, " That he broke out like the Irish rebellion, three- 
" score thousand strong, when nobody in the least expected it." In 
no country in the world is treachery held more in detestation than 
in Ireland ; because in no region can be found a higher spirit of 
frankness and generosity. Upon the door of every cabin mignt be 
justly inscribed, 

" Mistake me not so much, 
" To think my poverty is treacherous." 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 05 

florid children in a cabin, said to the father : " How do your country- 
w men contrive to have so many fine children?" " By Jasus it is the 
"fiotatoe, sz'r," said he. 

Three pounds of good mealy potatoes are more than equivalent 
to one pound of bread. It is worthy of remark to those who live well, 
without reflecting upon the condition of others to whom Providence 
has been less bountiful, that one individual who subsists upon meat 
and bread, consumes what would maintain five persons who live on 
bread alone, and twelve who subsist on potatoes ; and if such individual 
keeps a horse, he maintains an animal for his pleasures, for whose 
subsistence more land is necessary than for that of his master. 

In China the men are said to have nearly eaten out the horses, 
and hence it is usual for travellers to be carried along the high roads 
to the greatest distances by men. The mode of planting potatoes is 
as follows : the potatoe is cut into several pieces, each of which has 
an eye : these are spread on ridges of about four or five feet wide, 
which are covered with mould, dug from furrows on each side, of 
about half the breadth of the ridge. When they dig out the potatoes 
in autumn, they sow the ridge, immediately before digging, with 
bere, and shelter the crop in a pit, piled up so as to form a sloping 
roof. Potatoes are said to be very propitious to fecundity ; and I 
have been told that some investigators of political economy, enamour- 
ed with the fructifying qualities of the precious vegetable, have 
Clothed it with political consequence ; and in Ireland have regarded 
it like Cadmus's teeth, as the prime source of population ; so that 
hereafter, the given number of potatoes necessary to the due propor- 
tion of vital fluid being found, it will only be necessary to have due 
returns of the potatoe crops, in order to ascertain the average num- 
ber of little girls and boys, which have for the last year increased the 
circle of society. It has been considered that the cultivation of -rice 
was the most favourable to population, not only on account of its nu- 
trition, but because it employed a great number of men, and scarcely 
any part of the work could be done by horses ; but it has been since 
admitted, that more persons can subsist upon potatoes. I am ready to 
acknowledge the nutritious quality of the potatoe, and that it may 
be sufficient for the purposes of mere existence with an Irish rustic. 



96 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

who, having little to do, does little : but an enlightened and experi- 
enced medical friend of mine assured me, that it could not supply the 
frame with its necessary support under the pressure of violent exer- 
cise. A workman in an iron-foundry would not be able to endure the 
fatigue of his duty for three hours together, if he had no other food 
than potatoes. 

As the peasants and cabins, in the neighbourhood of Dublin, are 
more respectable and neat than those in many other parts of Ireland, 
I shall reserve any further remarks upon either, till they are suggest- 
ed by the objects I meet with in the course of my tour. 

Poor as the cabin is, do not, reader I think that hospitality and 
politeness are not to be found in it. The power of showing these 
qualities, to be sure, is very slender ; but if a stranger enters at din- 
ner-time, the master of the family selects the finest potatoe from his 
bowl, and presents it, as a flattering proof of welcome courtesy. 

After a day of high gratification, we returned to Newry -bridge, 
where we sat down to a couple of delicious fowls, for which, as for 
poultry of every description, and for its veal, this country is very fa- 
mous: we had also trout, and excellent wine, particularly port. In 
England it is a very rare piece of good fortune to get good port-wine 
at any inn ; and the vilest stuff sold under that name, is to be found at. 
the places of the greatest public resort : on the contrary, in Ireland 
excellent wine is to be had in the poorest public houses. A friend 
of mine, travelling in that country, came late at night to a little inn, 
which was so wretched that it had not a single bed for him or his 
servant, yet, to his surprise, the ragged host produced him a bottle 
of very fine claret. 

After a refreshing repose in clean beds, we rose to renew our 
rambles. At our breakfast we had excellent honey and eggs ; the 
latter the Irish have certainly the merit of having introduced to the 
English tables. Not many years since, even their neighbours the 
Welsh were so unaccustomed to the sight, that upon an Irishman 
ordering some eggs for breakfast, the waiter asked him whether he 
would have a rasher of bacon with them. 

So much do the Irish consider their own eggs to be superior for 
sweetness and flavour, that some Irishmen will not allow that an 
English hen can lay a fresh egg. 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 07 

Under a cloudless sky, we proceeded to Cronroe, about two miles 
from Newry, the seat of Isaac Ambrose Eccles, Esq., a gentleman of 
fortune, of considerable classical acquirements, and of the most amiable 
private character: this gentleman has edited three of Shakespeare's 
dramas, upon a liberal and extensive plan. The great natural curi- 
osity of Cronroe is a vast rock, which rises perpendicularly from 
some beautiful woods behind the house, to the top of which we 
ascended, and enjoyed an exquisite prospect of an extensive, undu- 
lating, and highly cultivated country, and the sea. One part of the 
view was enlivened by the busy movements of a crowded fair. 

After a display of hospitality, which in Ireland is no novelty, al- 
though always charming, we parted with our enlightened host, and 
proceeded to our chaise, which waited for us in the fair. Here all 
was bustle ; shoes, stockings, hats, pigs, sheep, and horses, were ex- 
posed for sale to the best advantage. 

It is always a source of pleasure to listen to the conversation of 
the lower Irish; at these places, wit, drollery, or strength of ex- 
pression, is sure to be the reward of it. " I am very bad, Pat,*' said 
one poor fellow, rubbing his head, to another. " Ah ! then may 
" God keep you so, for fear of being worse," was the reply. 

If Pat falls, his drollery is the first to rise up and laugh : the fol- 
lowing instance of it was communicated to me by a very dear friend 
of mine, who personally knew it to be a fact. An Irishman, an assist- 
ant-labourer to a master bricklayer, who was building a house for a 
gentleman in England, fell through the well-hole from the top of the 
unfinished dwelling, and alighted very fortunately in a large quantity 
of mortar that lay at the bottom, which saved his life ; the moment 
he had recovered himself, the only observation he made was, " By 
" Jasus, I had like to have hurt myself." 

The approach to Rathdrum, our next stage, was very beautiful : 
the town has nothing in it worthy of remark, unless it is by way of 
caution to the traveller, to enable him to obviate a very probable in- 
convenience as far as he can, by previous arrangements with the inn- 
keeper at Newry t — there are only two post-chaises in the town. 

In order to view completely the beauties of Avondale, formerly 
the residence of that great patriot, the late right honourable sir John 

N 



98 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

Pamela now inhabited by lady Wicklow, we ordered our chaise to & 
spot a few yards out of the high road to Arklow, called the Meeting 
of the Waters, and walked through this exquisite demesne, which is 
about a mile beyond Rathdrum : it stands on the banks of the river 
Avoca, or Avonmore, which signifies, "the great winding stream." 
The sloping banks, curving with the river, are clothed with a full 
rich coppice, occasionally ennobled to the view by scattered oak and 
ash, of stately growth. The mansion is modern and handsome; in 
front is a beautiful lawn, dotted with clumps of trees gently sloping 
from a hill crowned with fine beech and spruce firs ; there is great 
variety in the scenery ; the rich verdure of meadows or pasture is 
frequently contrasted with grey romantic rocks, of a great height, 
covered with old oak, the roots of many of which, from their beds, 
project one hundred feet perpendicular over the tops of others ; 
whilst the gentle current of the river is frequently broken into foam 
and cataract, by opposing rock and shattered granite, half-covered 
with moss. Our walk extended near three English miles through 
the woods, and every step afforded us some fresh gratification. 

About midway Ave were attracted by a rustic arched entrance, 
which led over a little meadow to a sequestered and highly romantic 
cottage, which forms the summer residence, as I was informed, of 
one of the sons of the late sir John Parnell : it stands in a vale near- 
ly embosomed on all sides. The scene was at once sweet and 
solemn. It was suited to console and refresh the mind of a states- 
man, in a few hours stolen from the toil and cares of the state. The 
appearance of Nature was too pensive for a man who had no mental, 
resources to fly to. I have seen nothing to compare with it in 
character, but in the beautiful islands which abound in the gulf of 
Bothnia. In this sequestered spot we heard the murmur of the 
Avoca, rolling at the base of a stupendous cliff, fringed with oak, 
holly, and quickset, and warmed by the red tint of a setting sun. 

Previous to the union, sir John Parnell filled the office of chan- 
cellor of the exchequer, with great dignity to himself, and advan- 
tage to his country ; but in consequence of his resistance to that 
memorable measure, as conscientious opposition is a virtue only 
with its possessor and those who think with him in politics, he w r a? 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 99 

removed from that dignified station, without losing any portion of 
his popularity. Although I have Dr. Arbuthnot's " God's revenge 
" against punning," before my eyes, I cannot help relating a little 
compliment which flowed from one who has said many good things, 
but never an unkind one. When the union was effected, sir John 
Parnell was frequently the subject of a toast after dinner ; and being 
one day in company with Joseph Atkinson, Esq., the present trea- 
surer of the ordnance of Ireland, in the course of conversation he 
sportively observed to the party who were present, " that by the 
" union he had lost his bread and butter ,-" to which Mr. Atkinson 
good-humouredly replied, " Ah ! my dear sir John, never mind it, 
" for you know it is amply made up to you in toast*' 

When we passed the gate that led out of Avonmore, a new 
scene of enchantment presented itself at "the Meeting of the 
" Waters," and ri vetted us in silent admiration. It was a scene of 
valleys, whose lofty sides were covered with the most luxuriant 
foliage, presenting a compact slope of leaves through which neither 
branch nor trunk of tree could be seen. Upon the top of one of 
these umbrageous mountains, a banqueting room or tower arose, the 
casement of which was brightened by the sun ; whilst below, dimly 
seen through over-arching beech-trees, a confluence of streams 
mingled with the river under the blue mist of approaching evening. 

Our road lay through the same exquisite scenery, the effect of 
which was not injured by the abrupt appearance of two mountains 
of copper mine, which lie nearly opposite to each other ; the savage 
sterility of these mountains, varied by the green, red, and yellow 
stains of their vitriolic streams, which scantily dripped down their 
sides, presented a striking contrast to the soft verdure and lux- 
uriant foliage which marked the termination of their desolate 
features. 

By the time we reached Arklow, the night had closed in upon 
us. Our inn was not the most comfortable in the world, but tolera- 
ble ; one side of the lower part of it was occupied by a shop, for the 
sale of groceries, wine, whiskey, &c. This union of the characters 
of shop and inn-keeper, I found very frequent in Ireland. Here we 
g-ot excellent wine. The waiter assured us that the beds, for we 



10© THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

dined in a double-bedded room, were well aired, and added, " ibr 
" one gentleman slept in both of them last night." I thought I had 
caught a bull here for the first time ; but upon a moment's reflec- 
tion I found that the gentleman, after sleeping in one bed, might 
have been disposed to try the other, and so it proved. 

A short distance from the town we passed by the spot where a 
very bloody and decisive battle was fought on the 9th of June, 1798, 
against the rebels, who were seven-and-twenty thousand strong, and 
who were routed with the loss of one thousand men left dead on the 
field. A brief account of the particulars, and of a very extraordi- 
nary character, who shone in all the splendour of high daring, will, 
I am sure, be interesting to my readers, as related by the reverend 
James Gordon. After speaking of the arrival at Arklow of the 
Durham fencibles, the rebels being in great force near it, he says ; 
" A few hours after, one of those ludicrous incidents occurred, 
" which, amid the calamities of war, serve to exhilarate the spirits of 
" military men. Two of the officers of this regiment, passing by 
" the house of Mr. O'Neile, in Arklow, where general Needham 
" was quartered, and where a great breakfast was prepared for the 
" general and his guests, were mistaken by a servant for two of the 
" suite, and informed that breakfast was ready for them and 
" their associates. This intelligence being communicated, the Dur- 
" ham officers came instantly in a body, and devoured the whole 
" breakfast." One of them, the writer states, remained behind to 
settle with the drivers of the carriages in which the regiment had 
travelled from Dublin, and upon him devolved the unpleasant situa- 
ation of hearing the complaints of the general and his officers, who 
arrived soon after and found all their breakfast vanished. He then 
proceeds : 

" In some hours, more serious objects engaged the attention of 
" the troops. The rebels, who, after the defeat of Walpole's army 
a on the 4th of June, had wasted their time in burning the town of 
" Carnew, in trials of prisoners for orangemen, the plundering of 
" houses, and other acts of the like nature, at length collected their 
« force at Gorey, and advanced to attack Arklow on the 9th, the only 
« day in which that post had been prepared for defence. The number 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 101 

** probably amounted to twenty-seven thousand, of whom near five 
** thousand were armed with guns, the rest with pikes, which gave them 
" in some points of view the appearance of a moving forest^ and 
" they were furnished with three serviceable pieces of artillery. 
" The troops posted for the defence of this, at that time, most im- 
" portant station, consisted of sixteen hundred men, including yeo- 
" men, supplementary men, and those of the artillery. The rebels 
" attacked the town on all sides, except that which is washed by the 
" river. The approach of that column which advanced by the sea- 
" shore was so rapid, that the picket-guard of yeomen cavalry, sta- 
" tioned in that quarter, was in extreme danger : a party of the 
" rebels having entered and fired what is called the fishery, a part of the 
u town on that side, composed of thatched cabins, before they could ef- 
" feet their escape, so that they were obliged to gallop through the 
f* flames, while the main body of this rebel column was at their 
" heels. So great was the terror of this troop of yeomen, that most 
" of them stopped not their flight till they had crossed the river, 
;< swimming their horses, in great peril of drowning, across that 
w broad stream. The farther progress of the assailants was pre- 
" vented by the charge of the regular cavalry, supported by the 
" fire of the infantry, who had been formed for the defence of the 
" town, in a line composed of three regiments, with their battalion 
" artillery, those of the Armagh and Cavan militia, and the Durham 
" fencibles. The main effort of the rebels, who commenced the at- 
*i tack near four o'clock in the evening, was directed against the 
" station of the Durham, whose line extended through the field in 
" front of the town to the road leading from Gorey. As the rebels 
" poured their fire from the shelter of ditches, so that the opposite 
" fire of the soldiery had no effect, colonel Skerrett, the second in 
" command, to whom major-general Needham, the first in com- 
" mand, had wisely given discretionary orders to make the best use 
M of his abilities and professional skill, commanded his men to stand 
"' with ordered arms, their left wing covered by a breast-work, the 
" right by a natural rising of the ground, until the enemy, leaving 
" their cover, should advance to an open attack. This open attack 
•' was made three times in most formidable force, the assailants 



102 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

rt rushing within a few yards of the cannons' mouths ; but they "were 
* received with so close and effective a fire, that they were repulsed 
" with great slaughter in every attempt. The Durham were not 
" only exposed to the fire of the enemy's small arms, but were also 
" galled by their cannon. A piece of these, directed at first much 
" too high, designedly, by a soldier taken prisoner by the rebels, of 
" the name of Shepherd, appointed to manage the gun, was after- 
" wards levelled so, by Esmond Kyan, a rebel chief, that it broke the 
" carriage of one of the battallion guns, and obliged the left wing of 
" the regiment to shift its ground, by advancing twenty paces, to 
" avoid being enfiladed by the shot. One of the balls carried away 
" the whole belly of a soldier, who yet lived some minutes in that 
" miserable condition, extended on the ground, and stretching 
« forth his hands to his associates." The historian mentions, that 
general Needham, after riding from post to post, exposed to the 
enemy's fire, at last came to the determination that a retreat would 
be the most prudent measure, in the then posture of affairs. The 
resolution of colonel Skerrett, on that occasion, saved Arklow, and, 
in the opinion of the writer, the kingdom. 

His reply to the general, when addressed on the subject of a re- 
treat, was in words to this effect : " We cannot hope for victory 
" otherwise than by preserving our ranks : if we break, all is lost ; and 
" from the spirit which I have seen displayed at this awful crisis by 
" the Durham regiment, I can never bear the idea of its giving 
" ground." This magnanimous answer was decisive ; and the 
rebels retired in despair, after having been repulsed in a most furi- 
ous assault, in which father Michael Murphy, priest of Ballycannoo, 
was killed by a cannon-shot, within thirty yards of the Durham line, 
while he was leading his people to the attack. 

Of this extraordinary man, sir Richard Musgrave observes, in his 
Memoirs of the Rebellion, that a column " was led on by father Mi- 
" chael Murphy, the priest of Ballycannoo, who endeavoured to ani- 
" mate them (the rebels) by every argument and exhortation that 
" could work on their bigotry. Many of their chiefs, who led them 
" on to successive attacks, were killed within a few yards of our 
" guns. Murphy, who had hitherto escaped, headed the column at 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 103 

•' the Charter-house, which was still very great ; but as they showed 
" a reluctance to advance, he took out of his pocket some musket- 
" balls, which he said were fired by the enemy, and some of which 
" had hit him without wounding him, and others he had caught in 
" his hands. He assured them, at the same time, that the balls of 
* ; heretics could not injure them, as they were under the protection 
" of the Almighty, in whose cause they were fighting, provided they 
" were stedfast in their faith. By that stratagem, he prevailed on 
" many of his deluded admirers to follow him, and they successively 
" became victims of their superstition and temerity. Father Mur- 
" phy, after many escapes, fell himself by a cannon-ball (which he 
" could not catch), within a few yards of a barricade, whilst shouting 
" to his followers, and waving in his hand a fine standard with a 
v ' cross, and Liberty or Death inscribed on it. The fall of this 
" church-militant hero had an immediate effect in damping the ar- 
" dour of the enemy, which from that moment began to abate." 

Another famous fanatic, father John Murphy, who figured away 
in the rebellion, Mas also supposed to be bullet-proof. This man's 
journal is curious ; it was found on the field of battle at Arklow by 
lieutenant-colcnel Bainbridge, of the Purham fencible infantry, and 
sent by him to general Needham. 

« Saturday night, May 26, at 6 A. M., 1798, began the republic 
" of Ireland, in Boulavogue, in the county of Wexford, barony of 
" Gorey, and parish of Kilcormick, commanded by the Rev. Dr. Mur- 
" phy, parish-priest of the said parish, in the aforesaid parish, when 
11 all the protestants of that parish were disarmed; and, among the 
M aforesaid, a bigot, named Thomas Bookey, who lost his life by his 
" rashness. 

" 26. From thence came to Oulart, a country village adjoining, 
" when the republic attacked a minister's house for arms, and was 
" denied of; laid siege immediately to it, and killed him and all his 
* forces ; they same day burned his house, and all the orangemen's 
" houses in that and all the adjoining parishes in that part of the 
" country. 

" The same day a part of the army, to the amount of one bun- 
" dred and four of infantry, and two troops of cavalry, attacked the 



104 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND, 

" republic on Oulart-hill, when the military were repulsed with thr 
" loss of. one hundred and twelve men, and the republic had four 
" killed, and then went to a hill called Corrigrua, where the republic 
" encamped that night, and from thence went to a town called Ca- 
" molin, which was taken without resistance, and the same day took 
" another town and sate of a bishop. At three in the afternoon, the 
" same day, they laid siege to Enniscorthy, when they were opposed 
" by an army of seven hundred men, then they were forced to set 
" both ends of the town on fire, and then took the town in the space 
" of one hour, and then encamped on a hill near the town, called 
M Vinegar-hill. 

" Bryan Bulger, 

" Darby Murphy, his hand and pen c 
" Dated this 26th." 

Some of the rebels who escaped this bloody conflict, by which 
Ireland was saved, in their forcible mode of expressing themselves, 
said, speaking of the slaughter produced by. the soldiery amongst 
them : " By Jasus, they mowed us down by the acre." 

As it is always a gratifying circumstance to find the military, in 
times of trouble, when their services were wanted, uniting humanity 
with duty, I cannot restrain the pleasure of inserting what Mr. 
Gordon has said upon a particular instance of this union. " l On 
" the arrival of the marquis of Huntley, however, with his regiment 
" of Scottish Highlanders, in Gorey (near Arklow), the scene was 
" totally altered. To the immortal honour of this regiment, its be- 
" haviour was such as, if it were universal amongst soldiers, would 
" render a military government amiable. To the astonishment of 
" the (until then miserably harassed) peasantry, not the smallest 
" trifle, even a drink of buttermilk, would any of these Highlanders 
" accept, without the payment of at least the full value. General 
w Skerrett, colonel of the Durham fencible infantry, who succeeded 
u the generous marquis in the command of that post, observed so 
" strict a discipline, that nothing more was heard of military de • 
" predation." 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 105 

Upon the sands at Arklow, colonel sir W. W. Wynne, at the 
head of his regiment, displayed great bravery and judgment. A 
whimsical circumstance happened here during the rebellion. A 
soldier, who was on guard, got into conversation with a raw coun- 
tryman, and taking advantage of his simplicity, agreed with him for 
the sale of his sentry-box: the simple clown paid the amount of the 
purchase, and came the next morning with his car and horse for it. 
" What are you doing there ? ,J said a fresh sentinel. " And, by 
" Jasiis, I'm come to remove this little bit of , he Iter y and plaze you," 
said the boor. The same spirit of simplicity is displayed in the 
following instance, which occurred not long since : a letter was re- 
ceived at the general post-office, London, directed, " Tp my son in 
" London." The next morning a gawky thumped at the post-office 
window, and said, " Has my mother sent me a letter?" of course 
the letter received was immediately delivered to him. 

We saw nothing particularly worthy of notice at Arklow except 
the castle, which is ancient and in ruins. The morning alter our 
arrival we crossed the bridge, which has nineteen arches, through 
which the Avoca flows into the sea, which is close adjoining : it was 
low water, and a number of fishing vessels lay on the yellow sands* 
The learned bishop Pococke, who has distinguished himself for his 
Travels in the Last, has observed that Arklow, with its sands, steeps, 
and glens, seen from the promontory, where the prospect has the 
best effect, presents a striking resemblance to the hill of 'Mount bion 
at Jerusalem, 



-O 



106 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND 



CHAPTER IX. 

A TRAVELLING HINT. ...COPPER MINES... .WICKLOW GOLD MINE... 
APPROACH TO GLENDALOCH.... DESCRIPTION OF IT. ...JOE, THE 
HISTORIAN OF THE PL ACE... .CH AR AC TERISTIC CUNNING AND 
WIT ...THE FAVOURITE BURIAL-PLACE. ...ROUND TOWER. ...USE 
OF THIS CURIOUS BUILDING.. ..BELFRIES. ...BELLS. ...ST. KEVIN 

DERMODY A HINT CAUSE ASSIGNED FOR THE HIGH 

STATE OF PRESERVATION OF THE ANCIENT RUINS IN IRELAND 
....LEDWICH'S ACCOUNT OF THIS REMARKABLE PLACE. ...MI- 
RACLES. 



JuET me warn the Wicklow rambler not .to omit seeing the 
beautiful seats and woods of Ballyarthur and Shelton, and of lord, 
Ca.ysfort's, and several other villas and plantations in the neigh- 
bouraood of Arklow. Alas ! forgetting that in Ireland a spirit of 
liberality opens every door, and unbars every gate to the stranger, 
we did not explore these exquisite spots; merely because we had 
forgotten -Jio^furnish ourselves with letters of introduction. The oak 
in Ballyarthur is said to be the finest in that part of Ireland, and the 
beech of Shelton are of uncommon magnitude, some of them mea- 
suring from twelve to sixteen feet in circumference. 

After a most delightful drive, we crossed a bridge, and returned 
to the road over which we had passed the preceding day; and, 
alighting from our chaise, climbed to the summit of one of the cop- 
per-mountains, where we saw several hollow squares, like baths, 
partly filled with divisions, in which plates of iron were deposited, the 
vitriolic particles of which are attracted by a stream, strongly im- 
pregnated with vitriolic water, which flows into them, and leaves a 
sediment of copper. At this mine there were no smelting-houses. 
I was informed that this mine was not very productive, and is very 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 107 

fleleterious to the fish for six miles in the river, which flows in the 
valley to the sea : indeed, I was informed that a very fine salmon- 
fishery at Arklow was completely destroyed by the poisonous stream 
of this mime. 

As the working of the once celebrated gold-mine, which lies at 
the foot of the mountain Croghan, in this neigbourhood, has for 
some time past been upon the decline, we did not think it would re- 
pay the trouble of visiting it. The discovery of this mine for some 
time elated the breast of every Irishman : his country promised to 
become another Peru, and the most precious treasures below seem- 
ed ready to augment the prodigal beneficence of nature above. 
" Gold, yellow, glittering, precious gold," flashed before the eye. 
The shepherd left his flock, the husbandman his field, the manu- 
facturer his loom, thousands deserted their homes and occupations, 
all rural employ was at a pause ; and, had not the harvest been pre* 
viously gathered in at the time of the discovery, a famine must have 
followed : this hurly-burly was scon restored to order. A detach- 
ment from the army arrived, and took possession of the mire in the 
name of the crown. The gold was found in marshy spots, in the 
bed and by the side of a small stream, in a gravelly stratum, and in 
the clifts of the rock which lie beneath. In the Dublin Society I 
saw an exact cast of a mass of gold which was found in the mine, 
weighing twenty -two ounces avoirdupois : it was discovered by eight 
labourers, before the- mine was claimed by the crown, who agreed 
to share in the search, and sold it for eighty guineas. 

At Rathdrum we took fresh horses and proceeded to Glenda- 
loch (or Glendalough), or the Seven Churches, about five miles off, 
which, had I not seen, I should have deeply regretted. The whole 
scene, soon after we quitted Rathdrum, became altered : one might 
have supposed that an ocean had separated Glendaloch from Avon- 
more. We found ourselves surrounded by vast mountains covered 
with brown heath, or more sable peat, whose hard and gloomy 
summits the rays of the sun, beginning to be obscured, shone upon 
without brightening : the whole was desolate, gloomy, and sublime. 
* Your honour," said our driver, upon observing that one of his 
horses plunged, " that mare is alwavs very unasy in going down 



108 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

" hill." Immediately afterwards we passed a dark avenue of trees* 
which led to the ruins of a mansion burnt in the rebellion : it stood 
at the foot of a mountain ; some of the walls, blackened by smoke, 
remained. The garden was overrun with briars and brambles ; not 
a solitary rose-tree was to be seen, and the plantation was a wilder- 
ness. As we gazed upon the melancholy scene, the clouds gather- 
ed over our heads: all was silent and mournful. The vast and 
gloomy glen before us, in the year 1798, afforded shelter and con- 
cealment, for a short time, to a body of twenty -five thousand rebels 
under the command of Dwyer and Hoult. The ruins which we 
saw marked the residence of a family which, having excited the 
vengeance of those miserable and deluded beings, were obliged to 
fly for their lives. Imagination depicted the torches of the frantic 
mob shooting a frightful gleam through the trees ; and now it be- 
held the crackling blaze of the devoted pile, reddening the sable 
scenery below, and the murky clouds above, until it sunk amidst the 
yell of the misguided incendiaries. 

Near this melancholy monument of insurrectional fury a bar- 
rack has been erected, for the purpose of preventing this place from 
again affording protection to rebels. Passing the barrack, which is 
stuccoed white, and is wholly out of unison with the dusky scenery 
in. which it is placed, the dark and lofty round tower of Glendaloch, 
which means the valley of the two lakes, just appeared rising from a 
plain ; whilst behind were stupendous mountains, half-covered with 
mist and cloud. This awful spot was formerly an episcopal see, 
and a well-inhabited city, till about 1214, when it w r as annexed to 
the diocese of Dublin. Upon its religious edifices falling into de- 
cay, it became a place of refuge to outlaws and robbers ; and it was 
not until 1472, that a peaceable and perfect surrender was made of 
ft to the archbishop of Dublin by friar Dennis White, who had 
long usurped that see in opposition to the regal authority. Since 
that period Glendaloch has become a dreary desert. The vene- 
rable remains of this city reminded me of the words of Ossian. 
" Why dost thou build the hall, son of the winged days? Thou 
" look'st from thy towers to-day ; yet a few years, and the blast of 
<c the desart comes: it howls in thy empty court." 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 109 

Stupendous mountains enclose this place on all sides, except to 
the east. On the south are the mountains of Lugduff and Derry- 
bawn, divided only by a small cataract: on the other side of a 
gloomy dark lake, and opposite to Lugduff, is Kemyderry ; between 
which and Broccagh, on the north side, is a road leading from Hol- 
lywood to Wickiow. A cascade called Glaneola-brook descends 
from a hill at the west end of the upper lake. This brook, Glenda- 
san river, St. Kevin's keeve, and other cataracts, form a junction in 
the valley, called Avonmore, which is frequently swelled by tor- 
rents. The two lakes in the vale are divided from each other by a 
rich meadow ; the rest of the soil is nearly sterile. Here and there 
are some scanty crops of rye and oats. The names Derrybawn, 
Kemyderry, and Kyle, denote that great forests of oaks, and other 
timber, clothed the mountains. There is a group of thorns, of a 
great size, between the cathedral and upper lake, which St. Kevin 
is said to have planted. It is supposed, from what can now be dis- 
covered of the ancient city of Glendaloch, by its walls above, and 
foundations below, the surface of the earth, it probably extended 
from Refeart church to the Ivy church, on both sides of the river. 
The only street now remaining is the road leading from the market 
place into the county of Kildare : it is in good preservation, being 
paved with stones placed edgeways, and ten feet in breadth. 

A small stream, called St. Kevin's keeve, runs on the north side 
of the Seven Churches to Arklow, and in its course falls into Glen- 
daloch. In this stream weak and sickly children are dipped every 
Sunday and Thursday before sun-rise, and on St. Kevin's day, on 
the 3d of June. The tall brown round tower, the ivied churches 
which occupy a level in the valley, the distant sound of cataracts, 
the stupendous mountains midway magnified by mist, a few miser- 
able cabins crouching at their ease, the deep shade upon the valley, 
are all well calculated to inspire the imagination with religious dread 
and horror. 

Before the curious reader is gratified by a brief extract from the 
learned history of this place, by the profound and amiable Dr. Led- 
wich, I think it but fair that the local historian of the place, who 
has never been known to fame by any other name than that cf Joe, 



110 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

and who presents himself to every visitor in that studious undress 
so finely depicted in the statue of the great Dr. Johnson, erected in 
St. Paul's cathedral, namely, without shoes and stockings, and en- 
cumbered, if I rightly recollect, with only half a pair of breeches, 
should relate his story first, especially as the cunning, ingenuity, 
and drollery of the discourse, will serve to illustrate the character of 
the low Irish. The speech which succeeds I took down verbatim in 
my sketch-book, under the pretence of sketching. This personage- 
had been attending three general-officers, to explain to them the 
gloomy history of the place : they had paid and dismissed him ; and I 
met him, on my return from the lower lake (my friend having gone 
to the upper one), making great dispatch to find me out. for the pur- 
pose of raising some pretensions to my bounty. " And plaze your 
" honour, I will tell you the history of the place; and true," said 
he, " as ever was made in Ireland. All that you see belonged to 
" St. Kevin, who lived one hundred and twenty years before he died. 
* Long life to your honour, three generals have just now given me 
" only two ten-penny pieces, and that's little enough ; for your ho- 
8 nou'r may perceive (pointing to his cabin upon the mountains, and 
« smiling) that it is high living there. The fat little general told 
" me to show him the Ivy Tower, as they wrangfully call it ; but I 
" said there are two jontletnen, meaning you, your honour, and the 
« other jontleman, long life to you both, who are gone amongst the 
« mountains there to see the loch, and I must not leave them. Then, 
« said the little fat general, I will pay you accordingly : I meant to 
« have given you a thirteen, but now I will give you nothing. Ah ! 
" said I, I don't care a ha'p'orth for a trifle : it is the friendship of 
« a jontleman that I value, and so, long life to your honour, said I, 
^ I cannot go, but must go back to those jontlemen ; so I was com- 
a ing to your honour, when your honour met me." Here let me 
observe, that the general afterwards told us, that Joe had invited him 
very pressingly to let him attend him to the Ivy Tower, and the in- 
vitation was declined. As we entered the principal gate of this an- 
cient city, he continued: " These arches, your honour! are very 
" injanious ; there are twenty-six stones in one, and twenty-seven 
« in the other, and all without sament (cement). Next, your ho= 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 11} 

r ; nour will observe the church-yard ; 'tis a tight, snug little burial- 
Ci place. Ah ! all the world loves to be buried here" (an assertion 
which seemed to be confirmed by the great number of ancient and 
recent tomb-stones). " Poor shoul ! I dare say they think it pretty 
" lying here. We have no complaints of it at all, at all." 

As I stood at the base of the Round Tower, I observed that the 
cement was very hard, and expressed a wish to have a piece of it 
knocked off; upon which my guide said, a Ah ! and won't I get you 
<< some? Oh yes! your honour shall have a taste of it." This 
tower is very perfect, and has a very novel and a very noble appear- 
ance. I climbed up to the door, which was about eight feet high, 
the stone steps of which lay in a pile below, and found the tower 
completely hollow to the top within. I remarked several apertures, 
in which, I should suppose, the beams, which once supported the 
stairs or ladders, were fastened. The whole fabric appeared to have 
the firmness and durability of rock. In descending, I was obliged 
to have recourse to Joe's arm. " Ah !" said he, " take it ; I would 
" no more drop your honour than I would my own shoulder?' 

Of these round towers there are fifty in Ireland ; but of their 
particular use the learned have very much differed. Some consi- 
der them as anchorite pillars ; and that one of the monks, to in- 
crease the pious reputation of his brethren, used always to watch 
and pray in them ; so that the tower acted like a sort of upright 
tube or speaking-trumpet, to enable the devotee to hold more per- 
fect converse with the Deity : others assert, that it was a place of 
penance, or a purgatorial pillar, in which the penitent was raised ac- 
cording to his crime ; others, that it was a belfry, being called in 
Irish cloghahd, which imports a steeple with a bell. As the opi- 
nions of antiquarians are so various, a plain-minded traveller is more 
at liberty to exercise his own judgment. All these towers are very 
near churches, and have been or are covered at the top; below 
Which a little way there are narrow oblong holes, which evidently 
must have been constructed for the emission of sound : the top of 
these towers is capacious enough to admit of a bell of the size and 
shape in fashion in a distant era. The apertures very visible in the 
tower at Glendaloch, might have supported the principal props of a 



112 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND.' 

wooden staircase. In Denmark and Sweden, the belfry, although 
not a round tower, is generally detached from the body of the church. 
In that part of Tartary which lies to the north-east of the Caspian 
Sea, round religious towers are said to be common. At Venice, 
Bologna, and Florence, the belfries of the metropolitan cathedrals 
are detached ; and in the east, round towers called minarets, with a 
balcony at the top, are used for calling the people to worship. From 
all these circumstances I should be induced to think, that the round 
towers of Ireland were neither more nor less, from their first foun- 
dation, than belfries. In one of the ancient buildings, here called 
St. Kevin's kitchen, there is a small round tower, rising out of the 
roof, and has the strongest appearance of a belfry. Walsh asserts 
that, upon the expulsion of the Danes, the christian clergy convert- 
ed the round towers into belfries, and that they derived their name 
from clogteachs; doe and clog signifying a bell, and teach a house. 
Primate Usher informs us, that bells were used in the churches in 
Ireland in the latter end of the seventh century. Sir John Haw- 
Idns, on the authority of Polydore Virgil, confines the invention of 
suspended bells to the year 400; whilst W. Strabo declares, that 
large suspended bells were a recent invention in the ninth century. 
In the Irish history, the keol and keolan, the bell and little bell, are 
mentioned as used in religious ceremonies, by the pagan priests, 
which it is supposed, but why I know not, were in the shape of 
those of the present day ; but no such have been found. Oblong 
square bells, from twelve to eighteen inches high, with a handle to 
sound them by, have frequently been found in the bogs in Ireland ; 
some of bell-metal, and some of iron : of the latter, there is one 
very much corroded in the museum of the Dublin Society, and a 
very curious one in the possession of the countess of Moira, at 
Moira-house, in Dublin. In the monkish legend, much is said of 
the virtues of it. Patrick's bell ; and it is a well-known story, that 
the bell of St. Muling was stolen from Ireland, conveyed to Ger- 
many, where being afflicted with the mal du pays, it floated back 
again to its dear native country. There is another clash of opinions 
and assertions upon bells ! If Polydore Virgil and sir John Haw- 
kins be correct, and bells were invented in the year 400, they might 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. . 113 

have been much improved in the year 515, when, allowing St. Kevin 
to have made a very rapid proficiency in the cell of his three old 
eremetical tutors, named Dogain, Lochan, and Enna, ancient story 
seems to have fixed the foundation of Glendaloch. I rejoice, and 
no doubt my reader does too, that this discussion is over; for, from 
a peculiarity of nerve, I dislike the subject of it too much, not to 
wish most heartily that the honour of inventing bells had been re- 
served for posterity. Upon this subject I have, however, an illus- 
trious opponent in the good and great sir Matthew Hale, lord chief 
justice of the king's bench, who, according to bishop Burnet, when 
a young man, belonged to a society of ringers. 

At Ardfert, near Tralee-bay, in the church-yard of the cathedral 
there, a round tower formerly stood, which, although apparently very 
firm, fell down some years since ; and what is very remarkable, all 
the stones fell inside, and formed a pile on the scite of the tower. In 
Scotland there are two small round towers : at Abernethy in Perth- 
shire, and at Brechin in Angus. 

To return to Joe : as we went to the cathedral, he showed me a 
font, and observed, " This was a place of baptism in sarviceable 
" times ; and here," said he, having climbed up to one of the old ivied 
windows, " and here, your honour, upon my taking this bit of ivy 
" away, you will observe" (showing me an ancient piece of sculp- 
ture) " this jontleman's head being bit by a serpent." Amongst 
other barbarous subjects to be found in the sculpture here, is that of 
the pigtail of a young man curling round the tail of a wolf. The 
effigy of the serpent exhibits some knowledge of zoology in the 
carver, as serpents are not to be found in Ireland. " And pray," 
said I, " Joe, how did you procure all this information ?" " Oh ! 
" your honour, and I learned it all from my great -uncle, who lived 
" one hundred and twenty years before he died ; he was the only 
" man who knew any thing about the place but me." As we were 
quitting the cathedral, my cicerone said, " that a lark had never been 
* seen within the hearing of the cathedral" (a low Irishman is always ' 
fond of the poetic figure of personification), " because the under- 
" takers, whilst they were building St. Kevin's house, had no other 
« hour to call the men up but the lark; and one day, your honour, 

P 



114 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

u St. Kevin finding these poor shouls looking very sadly, asked them 
k " what ailed them, when they said it was the lark, and that they 
" were worked to death : with that St. Kevin wished the lark might 
" never sing more within the hearing of the building, and it never 
" did sing more." 

Upon inquiry I was informed, that the lark never gladdens this 
inhospitable region with its song, owing, no doubt, to the bird being 
scared away by the horror of its desolation. Speaking of the stone 
of which the churches are composed, he figuratively said, " Not a 
" stone-cutter had ever struck his mallet on such stone before." 
Joe related a variety of medicinal virtues, which almost every hole 
and stone in the place possessed, in efficacy and number sufficient to 
remove every ache and malady which assail those various parts of 
the human frame enumerated in Moore's Almanac. " And by my 
" shoul," said he, " and there is the saint's bed," pointing to a cave 
which hung over the lake, " and whoever goes there is sure never 
" to die in child-bed." ~As I was pretty sure of not perishing in this 
manner, I thought it more prudent to stay where I was, than to take 
a perilous peep at this frightful hole, which I should have thought 
that surprising young Irish genius, Dermody, had in contemplation 
when he delineated Danger in the following beautiful colours : 

High o'er the headlong torrent's foamy fall, 

Whose waters howl along the rugged steep, 
On the loose -jutting rock, or mould'ring wall, 

See where gaunt Danger lays him down to sleep ! 

The piping winds his mournful vigils keep ; 
The lightnings blue his stony pillow warm ; 

Anon, incumbent o'er the dreary deep, 
The fiend enormous strides the lab'ring storm, 
And mid the thund'rous strife expands his giant form. 

The churches are scattered, and are very small. Their style oi 
architecture is said to be a unique specimen of the early Danish 
style in Ireland : I saw nothing like it in Denmark. 

At parting, my historian said, " There is a pretty ale-house 
" there," pointing to a cabin not far from the principal entrance of 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 115 

the deserted city, " and never finer mountain ale was ever tasted ; a 
" jontleman said to me yesterday, < Go, get a pint of whiskey ; give 
" me a sup, another to my servant, and do you take the rest." This 
hint I would not understand. Joe spoke much against drunkenness ; 
and I dare say the hovering spirit of St. Kevin, if he gratefully no- 
tices his historian, beheld him as happy as whiskey could make him, 
with the remuneration I gave him before we were half-way to Rath- 
drum. I shocked the superstitious veneration which this whimsi- 
cal fellow had for the place, until I had tranquillized it with money, 
by asking him to assist me in the removal of two stones into my 
chaise, which were elegantly sculptured, belonging to one of the 
arches, the edges of which were singularly fresh and sharp. 

To this hour, in such high sanctity is this place held, that every 
year, on the third of .hine, great numbers of persons flock to the 
Seven Churches to celebrate the festival of St. Kevin. 

The veneration entertained by the peasantry, not only here but 
in every part of Ireland, for the ruins of castles, monasteries, and 
chapels, is so great, that scarcely any inducement can satisfy the 
conscience of an Irish labourer to mutilate their remains, even- where 
they are neither useful nor ornamental. This amiable weakness has 
been singularly protective to the remains of antiquity in Ireland, 
where, from this reason, there are more of these venerable ruins 
than perhaps in any other country of the same extent in Europe. 
In the county of Tipperary alone, there are more than two hundred 
ruins in fine preservation. 

As I think this spot is one of the most interesting, and so highly 
worthy of attention, no apology will, I am sure, be necessary for in- 
troducing to the antiquarian reader, an extract from Dr. Ledwich's 
remarks upon the subject. 

" From the earliest ages, Glendaloch seems to have been a fa- 
" vourite seat of superstition. The tribe of wild and ignorant sa- 
" vages who here first fixed their abode, deprived of the light of 
" letters, unoccupied in any amusing or profitable employment, and 
" wandering among human forms as uncivilized and barbarous as 
" themselves, were a prey to melancholy thoughts and the basest 
y passions. Their fears animated eyery rustling" leaf and whisper- 



116 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

f ing gale, and invisible beings multiplied with the objects of their 
<; senses. 



" Quicquid humus, pelagus, coelum, mirabile gig-nunt, 

" Id duxere Deos, colla, freta, flumina, flammas. — Prudent. 

" The gloomy vale, the dark cave, the thick forest, and cloud- 
" capt mountain, were the chosen seats of these aerial spirits, and 
" there they celebrated their nocturnal orgies. These superstitious 
" and idle fears could only be appeased by the bold claims of pagan 
" priests to mystic and supernatural power, equal to the protection 
" of the terrified rustic, and the taming the most obstinate daemon. 

" The first christian preachers among these barbarians, what- 
" ever might have been the purity of their faith, or the ardour of 
" their zeal, were forced to adopt the high pretensions and 4 con- 
M juring tricks of their heathen predecessors ; and by thus yielding 
" to human prepossessions and imbecility, indirectly and impercepti- 
" bly introduced the great truths of revelation. 

" As superstition had filled Glendaloch with evil spirits, and its 
" lakes with great and devouring serpents, the christian missiona- 
" ries found it indispensably necessary to procure some saints, under 
" whose protection the inhabitants might live secure from temporal 
" and spiritual evils. At a loss for a patron, they adopted a prac- 
" tice, common throughout Europe in the dark ages, that of personi- 
" fying rivers, mountains, and places. This custom had reached 
" Ireland; we had made of the Shannon, saint Senanus; of the 
" town of Down, saint Dunus ; and now the mountain Kevin at 
M Glendaloch was to be metamorphosed into saint Kevin. Kevin is 
" the name of many mountains in Wales noticed by Camden." 

tk To this dreary and sequestered vale our saint (St. Kevin) re« 
" tired. He was born in 498, baptized by St. Cronan, and at the age 
?t of seven years put under the tuition of Petrocus, a Briton. " St. 
" Coemgenus," says another, " shall next be spoken of; in Latin as 
" much as to say, Pulchrogenitus ; he was ordered by bishop Lugi- 
" dus, and led an heremetical life in a cell, in a place of old called 
V Cluayn Duach, where he was born and brought up : now the place. 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 117 

W is called Glean-dalach, saith mine author, vallis duorum stagno- 
« rum — where one Dymnach, lord of the soil, founded a church in 
tt honour of St. Coemgenus, joined thereunto a fair church-yard, 
" with other edifices and divers buildings." 

" To believe that a barbarous people, naked and ignorant as 
" American Indians, should have preserved the pedigree of St. Ke 
w vin, is too much for the most stupid credulity. Neither will the 
" following miracles tend to establish the credibility of St. Kevin's 
u legend on his reality. " There was," says the Icelandic MS. be- 
M fore cited, " in Ireland one, among the body of saints, named Ka- 
" vinus, a kind of hermit, inhabiting the town of Glumelhagam 
" (Glendaloch), who, wlien that happened which we are about to re- 
M late, had in his house a young man, his relation, greatly beloved 
" by him. This young man being attacked by a disease which 
u seemed mortal, at that time of the year when diseases are most 
u dangerous, namely, in the month of March ; and taking it into his 
" head that an apple would prove a remedy for his disorder, ear- 
" nestly besought his relation, Kavinus, to give him one. At thai 
u time no apples were easily to be had, the trees having just then 
" began to put forth their leaves. But Kavinus grieving much at 
u his relation's sickness, and particularly at not being able to pro- 
u cure him the remedy required, he at length prostrated himself in 
iC prayer, and besought the Lord to grant him some relief for his 
" kinsman. After his prayer he went out of the house, and looking 
« about him, saw a large tree, a salix or willow, whose branches he 
u examined, and as if for the expected remedy, when he observed 
" the tree to be full of a kind of apples just ripe. Three of these 
" he gathered, and carried to the young man : when the youth had 
u eaten part of these apples, he felt his disorder gradually abate, and 
iC was at length restored to his former health. The tree seemed to 
il rejoice in this gift of God, and bears every year a fruit like an 
>' apple, which from that time have been called St. Kevin's apples, 
" and are carried over all Ireland, that those labouring under any 
" disease may eat them ; and it is notorious from various relations, 
" that they are the most wholesome medicine against all disorders 
' to which mankind are liable ; and it must be observed, that it is 



118 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

" not so much for the sweetness of their savour, as their efficacy in 
" medicine, for which they are esteemed, and as at first for which 
" they are sought. There are many other things which were sud- 
" denly effected by the virtue of this holy man : perhaps this story 
" arose from exhibiting the bark, leaves, and catkins of the willow, 
" which the Irish believed to be efficacious in dysenteries. 

" Cambrensis tells us, that in the time of Lent, St. Kevin retreat- 
" ed from the commerce of the world to a little hut in the desert, to 
" enjoy meditation, reading, and prayer. On a certain time, putting 
u his hand out of the window, and lifting it up to heaven according 
w to custom, a black-bird perched on it, and using it as a nest, drop- 
u ped her eggs there. The saint pitied the bird, and neither closed 
" or drew his hand in, but indefatigably kept it stretched out until 
" she brought forth her young. In memory of this, all images of 
u St. Kevin have a hand extended and a bird sitting on it." 

" St. Kevin, as tradition reports, going up a neighbouring hill, 
" in time of dearth, met a woman with a sack on her head, contain- 
" ing five loaves. He inquired what she was carrying ; she an- 
u swered, stones. " I pray," says the saint, " they may become 
" stones," when instantly five stones tumbled out." These were 
" kept as sacred reliques for many years in the Refeart-church, but 
u are now in the valley, at a considerable distance from it ; they 
" weigh about twenty -eight pounds each, are shaped as loaves, with 
u the marks of their junction in the oven. Let these impious and 
" foolish tales of ignorant and superstitious ecclesiastics suffice, and 
" let them warn us of that miserable degradation of the human 
u mind, which alone could give them currency and credit. Let us 
" now attend to the remains of ancient art which this celebrated glen 
" affords to us. 

" On entering it fr6m the east, we first reach the Ivy-church, so 
" called from being enveloped in the umbrage of this plant. The 
" belfry is circular, and shows one of the first attempts to unite the 
" round tower with the body of the church. South-east from this, 
" and on the opposite side of the river, is the Eastern-church, or the 
'* priory of saint Saviour. Near this is a stone-roofed chapel, disco- 
" vered a few years ago by Samuel Hayes, Esq., one of the repre-. 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 119 

u sentatives for the borough of Wicklow. About a furlong west from 
" the Ivy-church, and on the same side of the river, is a small square, 
" which was the market-place. In its centre was a stone cross, the 
" pedestal only remaining. South from the market-place, you pass 
" Glendasan river on stepping-stones, where formerly was a bridge, 
" and then you arrive at the cemetery, which is entered by a gateway 
" through a semicircular arch, and in this inclosure stands the cathe- 
" dral. The nave is forty -eight feet long by thirty wide : a semicir- 
" cular arch forms the chancel. The eastern window is a round 
" arch, ornamented with a chevron moulding. The sculptures of the 
" impost mouldings are legendary : on one part a dog is devouring a 
" serpent. Tradition tells us, that a great serpent inhabited the lake, 
" and it is at this day called Lochnapiast, or the Serpent-loch, and, 
" being destructive of men and cattle, was killed by St. Kevin. In 
" another part the. saint appears embracing his favourite willow, and 
" among the foliage may be discovered the medicinal apple. The 
" window itself is very singular, running to a narrow spike-hole ; nei- 
" ther it or any other at Glendaloch seems to have been glazed. 
" Under a window on the south side of the choir, is a tomb of free- 
" stone adorned with carving, but without any inscription. Not far 
u from the cathedral is the sacristy, otherwise called the priest's 
" house. The closet, in which the vestment and holy utensils were 
" kept, remains ; the vulgar believe it an infallible cure for the head- 
ii ach to turn thrice round it ; a notion arising from the veneration 
" paid to its sacred furniture in times of predominant superstition. 

" Kevin's-kitchen is a stone-roofed oratory ; the ridge of the roof 
" is about thirty feet above the ground, and its angle sharp ; at the 
" west end is a round tower of about forty-five feet in height. Our 
" Lady's-church is the most westward of all the others, and nearly 
" opposite the cathedral. The Refeart-church is literally thesepul- 
" chre of kings, being the burial-place of the O'Tooles ; seven of 
" these toparchs lying here interred, according to tradition. On a 
" tomb is said to be the following inscription in Irish : 
" Jesus Christ 
" Mile deach feach cort Re MacAtthuiJ, 



120 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

« That is, 
" Behold the resting-place of the body of king Mac Toole, who died 
" in Jesus Christ, 1010. 
" These letters and words cannot now be made out, after the 
" utmost pains and attention, nor scarcely a single letter with any 
" certainty. Besides, if the whole was legible, it could not be in 
" modern Irish, but in that dialect of it, which from its antiquity could 
" not at present be easily understood. In returning from the Refeart- 
" church is a circle of stones piled up conically, about three feet high ; 
" at and round these pilgrims perform pennance. 

" In the recess of the south mountain is Teampall na Skellig. 
" equivalently called in the old records, the Priory de Rupe, and the 
u Convent de Deserto : St. Kevin's-bed is above it. 

" Almost in the middle of the glen are the ruins of the abbey, of 
u monastery, dedicated to the apostles Peter and Paul : and north of 
" the abbey stands Trinity-church, at the end of which is part of a 
" round tower, which was evidently used for a belfry. There were 
" many smaller chapels and oratories. The Seven-churches foi 
" which Glendaloch was so celebrated, seem to have been, 

« 1. The Abbey. 

« 2. The Cathedral. 

i( 3. St. Kevin's-Kitchen, 

u 4. Teampall na Skellig. 

u 5. Our Lady's Church, 

" 6. Trinity Church. 

« 7. The Ivy Church. 
" The others appear to be later constructions. The Seveil 
u churches, when approached by the bridge of Derrybawn, form a 
M very picturesque and pleasing scene. The bridge is thrown over 
" the Avonmore, and is composed of three elliptic arches from a de- 
" sign of Samuel Hayes, Esq. Derrybawn, covered to a great extent 
'* with an oak coppice on one side, and the huge Broccagh on the 
u other, confines the view up the river to the valley ; at the end of 
" Avhich the great round-tower and the other ruins appear to great 
" advantage. A remarkably smooth and high mountain makes a no 
" less singular than agreeable back-ground. 



The stranger in Ireland. 121 

44 The number seven was mystical and sacred, and early conse- 
il crated to religion. It began with the creation of the world, and 
*' all the Jewish rites were accommodated to it. It is found among 
K the Brachmans and Egyptians. The Greek fathers extol its power 
f and efficacy, and the Latin, as usual, apply it to superstitious pur- 
** poses. The church formed various septenaries. The following 
" is extracted from archbishop Peckham's constitutions made at 
" Lambeth, A. D. 1281. — ' The Most High hath created a medicine 
" for the body of man, reposited in seven vessels, that is, the seven 
u sacraments of the church. There are seven articles of faith be- 
" longing to the mystery of the Trinity. Seven articles belonging to 
" Christ's humanity. There are seven commandments respecting 
" man ; seven capital sins, and seven principal virtues.' Much more 
" to the same purpose is in Amalarius, Durandus, and the ritualists. 
" The Irish entertained a similar veneration for this number ; witness 
" the seven churches at Glendaloch, Clonmacnois, Inniscathy, Inch, 
" Derrin, Inniskealtra, and the seven altars at Clonfert and Holy 
" Cross. Crowds were attracted to these places to celebrate the pro- 
** foundest mysteries." 



Q 



i22 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 






CHAPTER X. 

LUGULA.... SOCIAL DISPOSITION OF THE PEASANTS.. ..BELLE-VUI, 
....HUMANE INSTITUTION.., .THE PALACE OF GLASS... BEAUTI- 
FUL CHAPEL GLEN OF THE DOWNS SWISS COTTAGE 

ANECDOTE OF NATIVE DROLLERY.. ..GARRICK AND THE IRISH- 
MAN. ...WIT POWERSCOURT WATERFALL VENOMOUS ANI- 
MALS AND ST. PATRICK. ...TOAD-EATERS. ...CLIMATE OF IRE- 
LAND. ...ROADS. ...THE ADVANTAGES AND ABUSES OF PRESENT- 
MENTS THE INTELLIGENT DIRECTING POST CHURCH- ' 

YARDS. ...EPITAPHS. ...BEAUTIFUL LINES. 

JN OT far from Glendaloch is Lugula, the shooting-box of 
Peter Latouche, Esq., a name which has long been associated with 
every public and private virtue that can adorn human nature. We 
regretted that our time would not admit of our visiting this place* 
which we were informed is finely placed between two vast bleak 
mountains, which, as well as the adjoining country, abounds with 
growse ; the rich green foliage of the grounds and plantations pre- 
sent a striking contrast to the brown sterility by which it is enclosed, 
and the whole scene is diversified by waterfalls and rocks singularly 
shaped. It is six or seven miles from any habitation. A part of 
the building is allotted for respectable strangers, where, in the spirit 
of Irish hospitality, beds and attendants are provided. 

In different parts of this tour, we found the peasants very civil 
and social. If they saw me making a. sketch, with an intelligent 
look, and a smile on their countenance, which prevented their ap- 
proach from being thought either vulgar or impertinent, they would 
gently move round me, and examine my drawing ; at other times 
they would ask what o'clock it was, for the blended gratification of 
saying something and seeing a watch ; and in the road I have seen 
many a little urchin, who was carrying a parcel or letter as a gas- 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 12S 

aoon, keeping up with the chaise for a considerable distance, with- 
out ever presuming to get behind, solely for the sake of being in 
•society. These little fellows will frequently carry letters to a 
distance of forty or fifty miles, for scarcely any other remuneration 
than a hearty supper and a bed to sleep upon. We returned to 
Newry -bridge, and set off the next morning for Belie-Vue, another 
seat of Peter Latouche, Esq. The house is a handsome modern- 
built mansion ; and the grounds, which are elevated, command a 
fine view of the sea, and are laid out with infinite taste. This noble 
demesne contains above three hundred acres of improved ground, 
which about thirty or forty years back was a barren waste, except 
about ten acres, on which a cabin stood, and half a dozen trees 
grew. 

The first object worthy of being seen here, is an institution 
which does equal honour to the head and heart of Mrs. P. Latouche, 
a lady who, in a country remarkable for its benevolence, has distin- 
guished herself for the extent and variety of her goodness. A fresh 
little girl, neatly dressed, conducted us through a' winding walk to an 
extensive house and offices, built upon the estate, in which eight-and = 
twenty girls, the daughters of the neighbouring peasants, are clothed, 
boarded, and educated at the expence of this lady. The education of 
the girls is confined to useful objects, under the direction of a gover- 
ness, and they alternately attend to all the domestic economy and ar- 
rangements of the house. Since the commencement of the school, 
several of the girls, having completed their education, have 
been comfortably married : three of them I learned have been set- 
tled in lodges upon the demesne, one of them in a shop established 
for the benefit of the neighbouring poor, in which every article of 
clothing, fuel, Sec, bought at the best wholesale price, is sold to the 
poor at a very trifiing advance, just sufficient to afford a little allow- 
ance to the young shopkeeper. Upon the whole, as the reader may 
well suppose, it is a losing trade to the fair patroness, but she well 
knows that in a concern of beneficence, those who have the nu- 
merical balance in their favour, will have their debt doubly paid both 
here and hereafter. 

I believe in England and Ireland the green and hot-houses of 
Belle-Vue are unrivalled. This palace of glass, which looks as if it 



124 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

had been raised by Aladdin's lamp, is six hundred and fifty feet in 
length, and includes an orange, a peach, a cherry-house, and vinery, 
and is filled with the most precious and beautiful plants from the 
sultry regions of Asia, Africa, and America, which, tastefully ar- 
ranged and in the highest preservation, banquet the eye with their 
beautiful colours, and fill the air with the most voluptuous perfume. 

As I was roving through this delicious spot, some steps led me 
into the chapel : the area of this room is twenty feet square, exclu- 
sive of the circular recesses, which are on each side raised by two 
or three steps, festooned with Egyptian drapery, in one of which the 
reading-desk is placed, and in the two others the seats for the family ; 
the area is filled with accommodations for the children of the school 
I mentioned, and the servants of the family ; the height of the chapel 
to the top of the dome is twenty -six feet : the seats are covered with 
scarlet cloth, the decorations are in the highest style of appropriate 
elegance, and the entrance opens into the conservatory. 

In this room, under the roof of which there is a large ceratonia 
siliqua edulis, or locust-tree, of the class polygamia and order 
triocecia ; it is a native of Sicily and the coasts of the Mediterra- 
nean, and covers sixty-four feet of the wall. There is also another 
locust-tree, a native of Jamaica, called the hymenaca courbaril, of 
the class and order decandria monogynia, and a vast number of 
plants not long arrived from New South Wales. No expence is 
spared to make the collection as valuable as possible. Upon the 
continent I have seen several princely conservatories, but none any 
where so extensive or so well filled as this surprizing range of 
glass-work. If it be surpassed, it is only by the celebrated winter- 
garden in prince Potemkin's palace at Petersburg, and by that only 
in its prodigious magnitude. 

A serpentine ascending walk conducted us to a Turkish tent, 
from which there is a magnificent prospect, and thence to a ban- 
queting-room, which impends over the summit of a high mountain, 
from which there is a fine view of the Glen of the Downs, a great 
pass between two long ranges of mountains covered with wood, and be- 
low, the vale narrows into a passage just capable of admitting a road, 
and a stream which runs along the side of it. This view is monotonous s 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 125 

and wants relief; it is more grand than beautiful. From the moun« 
tains we descended into the road where our chaise was waiting, and 
found on one side, at the bottom, a most romantic cottage a la Suisse, 
designed and furnished with great appropriate taste by Mrs. La- 
touche. A little rustic bridge of pine branches is thrown over a 
clear stream, which at this place has a gurgling descent ; a colon- 
nade of the trunks of trees marks that part of the dwelling in which 
the cottager lives ; a walk round a casement diamond-cut window 
conducts to a delightful room, fitted up, in a style of rural simplicity, 
with every accommodation for the enjoyment of a few retired hours 
in the sultry heat of summer ; and a mountain arises immediately 
behind, overhanging it with trees. 

A story relates, that some years since the archbishop of Dublin 
was passing on horseback in this road, and finding himself stopped 
by a peasant and his car, cried out to the countryman, " Get out of 
" my way there, get out of the way ; do you know who I am ?** 
a No," said the boor. " Why then," replied the mitred prelate, 
" know that I am the archbishop of Dublin ;" upon which the fel- 
low turned round, and with an arch look, dryly said, " Then so much 
" the better for you." 

Garrick had no very high opinion of the talents, of the common 
Irish, until the following whimsical circumstance induced him to 
change his mind. Having laid a wager with sir John O'Farrel that 
the common people were not witty, they agreed to ask an English- 
man what he would take to stand naked upon the top of St. Paul's; 
the fellow scratched his head, and said, " Ten guineas ;" they next 
accosted a low Irish labourer with the same question. " What !" 
said he, " in mudder's (?nother'sJ nakedness ?" " Yes, Pat," was 
the reply. « Why then," said he, " by Jasus, I would take could 
" (cold)." 

From Bray we proceeded to Powerscourt waterfall, which rushes 
down a rocky channel, upon the side of an extensive amphitheatrical 
and almost perpendicular mountain, richly clothed with the foliage 
of ascending woods. On account of the dryness of the season, the 
fall was very scanty when we were present : when copious, in rainy 
Reasons, it must be very grand. We would have prayed for a shower, 



126 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

but remembered the answer of a curate, who, upon being request- 
ed by a wealthy farmer, one of his parishioners, after a long drought, 
to pray for rain, replied : " My friend, if you earnestly press the 
" matter, I will pray, but I think we had better wait till the wind 
" gets round into another quarter." 

Upon some of the cabins in our road to Dublin, I read upon a 
board fixed over the door, " Dry lodgings," which inscription I was 
informed does not mean that the beds to be let there are free from 
damp, but that lodgings only, and no spirituous liquors, are to be 
had. They were a sort of ditch hummums. In some of the cabins 
where milk is sold, a white rag, fixed upon a pole, figuratively an- 
nounces that milk may be purchased within. We returned to the 
capital in time for dinner, much delighted with our Wicklow ex- 
cursion. 

In the course of this tour, and afterwards, I made several inqui- 
ries whether it were true that Ireland is not infested with venomous 
animals, and in what particulars it differed from other countries in 
its animate and inanimate character; and was informed, by authori- 
ties which I could not doubt, that Ireland has neither snakes, toads, 
vultures, moles, or mole-crickets; and it is gravely asserted that 
there were no frogs till king William the third landed. 

The Irish are like the Chinese, in being passionately fond of 
tracing their origin from the remotest ages ; hence, from tolerably 
authentic history, they soon get into the fog of fable : and ancient 
story tells, that their holy guardian, saint Patrick, came to preach 
the gospel in Ireland in the third century ; that, being well re- 
ceived, and very grateful, he cunningly attracted all the devils, 
with which Ireland at that time was infested, to the top of a moun- 
tain, where, after fixing their attention by a right merry tale, he 
threw them all into a deep hole, and afterwards collected all the ty- 
gers, lions, rats, frogs, snakes, and every venomous animal in the 
island, and sent them headlong after. The rats returned, and the 
frogs either made their escape, or a fresh colony came over with 
William, as before related. I heard a better reason assigned for 
one of the above species of animals being excluded. A viceroy of 
Ireland asked one of his chaplains, at a great dinner given at the 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 127 

Castle, " Why there were no toads in Ireland?" to which he replied : 
u Because, your excellency, there are so many toad-caters. 1 ' 

I must not omit to say that general Doyle has ascribed a new- 
animal to Ireland. Upon a traveller telling him that he had been in 
countries where the bugs were so large and powerful, that two of 
them would drain a man's blood in one night, the general wittily 
replied : " My good sir, we have the same animals in Ireland, but 
" they are called by another name ; they are called humbugs'* In 
Ireland there is no chalk. The moisture of the climate is said to be 
fatal to venomous animals. 

Sir William Petty took great pains, and was the first to ascer- 
tain the fact of the agitation of the air in Ireland being greater than 
it is in England. He says, " That the rain which fell in Dublin in 
October, 1663, compared with that which fell in London, was as 
twenty to nineteen ; but that the windiness of the same month at 
Dublin was twenty, and at London only seventeen." Humid as the 
climate of Ireland is, agues and dropsies are not very common ; and 
one of the first physicians in Ireland informed me, that he knew of 
no disease which could be considered peculiar to Ireland. Accord- 
ing to Smith's History of Cork, the quantity of rain which falls in 
that city is, upon an average, twice as much as the quantity that falls 
in London ; and Mr. Young, in his admirable work, states, that he 
kept a diary of the weather from the 20th of June to the 20th of 
October, and out of one hundred and twenty-two days there were 
seventy-five of rain, and many of them were very heavy. . And he 
further adds, that he had examined similar registers in England, 
and could find no year in which such a moisture occurred ; and that, 
according to the information that he received, the wet season gene- 
rally set in about the first of July, and continued till September or 
October, when there was usually a dry, fine season for a month or 
six weeks. Doctor Rutty, after remarking, in his meteorcgical ob- 
servations, that the south-west wind was the most violent that pre- 
vailed in Ireland, observes, that from a registry of the weather for 
forty -three years, he found the fair days in Ireland were not a third 
of the year; whilst in England the dry days are nearly two to one. 



128 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND: 

During my stay in Ireland, I found part of the summer and tnt 
autumn without much rain, and the winter was very mild. This 
moisture of climate is attributed to the exposure of Ireland to the 
Atlantic ocean, in which state it operates as a screen to England ; 
and to this almost constant moisture may be attributed the vivid ver- 
dure of the fields and meadows of Ireland. The low Irish are, from 
habit, much attached to this sort of climate, and are as thankful for 
a shower of rain as if they were amphibious. I should think the 
general climate of Ireland to be nearly similar to that of Devon- 
shire, perhaps more genial. In the county of Wicklow there are 
many fine myrtles remaining in the open air all the year round. In 
Devonshire I have seen much finer ; but that must be owing, to a 
greater degree of attention being paid them. At Kittery-court, near 
Dartmouth, the residence of some highly beloved friends of mine, I 
have seen, in the gardens of that beautiful and highly picturesque 
spot, a hedge of myrtles. 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 129 

The climate is so salubrious, that we find, by history, those 
plagues which so much devastated England, but rarely reached Ire- 
land. The leaves seldom fall till November. From the almost 
constant motion of its atmosphere, and the balmy softness of it, Ire- 
land has been, for ages past, called " the Land of Zephyrs." It was 
also termed, on account of the beauty of its verdure, " the Green 
" Island of the West," and " the Emerald Isle." 

The inferiority of the flavour of fruit in Ireland may be attributed 
to the moisture of its climate : peaches which grow in the open air 
seldom come to perfection : but the south produces excellent apples, 
and the Irish gooseberry is remarkably fine. 

In the course of this tour, I was much surprised, as I have men- 
tioned, to find the Irish so far before us in the beauty and durability 
of their roads, which are surpassed only by those of Sweden. I do 
not speak of their turnpike-roads ; for I afterwards, in the north, 
found them to be, few as they are, miserably bad ; the result of jobs 
and collusion. The public are indebted to Arthur French, Esq., for- 
merly of Moniva, for having matured a system by which every tra- 
veller is so essentially benefited. One great cause of the roads in 
Ireland enduring so long when once constructed, is owing to there 
being no ponderous waggons, or other heavy carriages, to cut them 
into ruts, except the few mails and stage-coaches, which are scantily 
established in different parts of the country. The cars, which are 
alone used for the conveyance of articles, are too light, and their 
wheels too broad in proportion, to do any injury. A common car 
generally weighs about 2 cwt. 2 qrs. and 4 lbs., and a common En- 
glish waggon, with nine inch wheels, from 55 cwt. to three tons. 
The usual mode of making a road in Ireland is, by throwing up a 
foundation of earth in the middle, from the outsides, by placing a 
layer of lime-stone on this, broken to about the size of an egs;, by 
scattering earth over the stones to make them bind, and by throwing 
over the whole a coat of gravel when it can be had. Upon so im- 
portant a feature of the country, the reader will not be displeased 
with a recital of the proceeding by which all the roads in Ireland, ex- 
cept turnpike-roads, are constructed. Whoever wishes to mend or 
make a road has it measured by two persons, who swear to the mea- 

R 



130 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

surement before a justice of peace : a certificate, containing its des- 
cription, and the sum per perch which it will cost, is signed by the 
treasurers* and by two overseers, who are also sworn to the truth of 
the valuation : this certificate is laid before the grand jury, at the as- 
sizes, and allowed or rejected by vote. If the certificate is granted, 
the applicant, at his own expence, must finish it by the ensuing as- 
sizes, when, upon his sending a certificate of his having expended the 
money properly, it is signed by the foreman, who also signs an order 
on the treasurer of the county to pay the applicant. This sum is 
raised by a tax on the land, which is adjusted by officers called ap- 
plotters, who rate the estates acreably : this method, which has cer- 
tainly much in it to commend, has also, like every human institution, 
much to guard against. The money raised by grand jury present- 
ments is not always paid to the persons who make the road, such 
persons being too frequently under the grinding oppression of the 
owner of the land through which the road runs, or his agent, in con- 
sequence of their being his tenants, and owing an arrear of rent, or 
being indebted to the agent for the purchase of a horse, cow, or pig ; 
which rent, or debt, is frequently liquidated by the debtor making or 
repairing the roads, which is called road-money ; a system which is 
frequently pregnant with the most cruel grievance. The affidavits 
also of the overseers have sometimes been signed by, without having 
been sworn before, the magistrate, and the money for making the 
road has been paid without the road having been made : these facts 
were developed in a trial at nisi firms, before judge Fox, in the 
county of Donnegal. Such a system of fraud might be considerably 
checked, if overseers of roads were to be sworn in open court, before 
one of the judges at the assizes. 

The roads in England, except those which are near the metro- 
polis, are far from being excellent : the cross-roads in the country 
are very bad ; and, from a deficiency of directing-posts, or from their 
unintelligibility, the traveller is frequently most vexatiously puzzled. 
In the west of England, there is a directing-post placed at the corner 
of three cross-roads, each of which leads to a town beginning with 
the letter D ; and, by way of distinguishing each road, the three sides 
of the post are most luminously marked with the letter D, for the 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 131 

great comfort and information of the bewildered traveller. Oh, if 
this post had been in Ireland ! In Ireland the cross-roads are expres- 
sively called " Bridle-roads ;" and should the traveller experience, 
what is not very likely, any difficulty in finding his way, a good-hu- 
moured peasant is sure to rectify his error. I met with a striking 
instance of this sort of urbanity. The same kind spirit induces him, 
with uncommon penetration, to shape his answer to an inquiry res- 
pecting the distance of the town : if he observes fatigue or chagrin 
marked on the countenance of the stranger, he is sure to cheer him, 
by telling him that he has only a little way to go. I received this trait 
from an English gentleman, who had long resided in the central parts 
of Ireland. 

Ireland is not only somewhat our superior in roads, but eminently 
in that decorum and good sense which prevent the asylum of the dead 
from becoming the ordinary lounging-place of the halting traveller, 
who, in England, well knows that almost every church-yard will fur- 
nish him, whilst his fowl is killing and roasting for his dinner, with an 
abundant and right merry feast of pious puns, ridiculous elegies, and 
solemn conundrums. 

In the course of my tour I found no such trash. An Irishman, 
upon his first visit to England, would, I am sure, be astonished to 
enter a burial place, and read the following mortuary verses, which 
were copied, not long since, from a tomb-stone in the church-yard of 
one of the principal towns in the county of Norfolk. 



EPITAPH OX MRS. GREENWOOD. 

Oh ! cruel death, thou hast cut down 

The fairest Greenwood in all the town ; 

Her beauty and her accomplishments were such. 

That she might have married a bishop or a judge : 

But such was her virtue, and such her humility, 

That she chose to marry me, a poor doctor of divinity, 

For her, and every other good woman's sake, 

Never let a blister be put upon a lying-in woman's back 



132 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

Or this : 

Here lies three children which their parents had, 
Their gone to rest, whereof they may be glad; 
For it was said by Solomon the wise, 
The birth-day's not so good as that they dies. 

Or this : 

ON A BOY WHO TUMBLED FROM THE TOP OF NORWICH 
CATHEDRAL. 

This hopeful youth by accident did fall, 
From a scaffold at the cathedral. 

If a stranger would wish for a further treat of these death-grin- 
7iing ditties, he will find much amusement should he visit Brighton, 
to ramble into the church-yard there, or into almost any other ceme- 
tery in England. If this exhibition of impious folly is to be considered 
as a relation to the liberty of the press, the sooner it is placed under 
an imprimatur the better. The mischievous infatuation of burying 
the dead within the churches in England, is only equalled by the un- 
paralleled levity and dulness by which their virtues are commemo- 
rated. But let not the reader think, if the Irish church-yard is free 
from the nonsense which disgraces the same sacred spot in England, 
that it cannot boast of those poetic beauties which sometimes call 
forth the sympathy and tears of those who visit the latter. The fol- 
lowing beautiful lines, from the pen of that distinguished man, whose 
versatility of genius is the astonishment and admiration of all who 
have been within the range of it, Curran, will prove how the mourn- 
ing muse can affect in Ireland. 

ON SEEING THE FUNERAL OF THE REV. ALEX. LAMELLIERE, 

nov. 23, 1797. 

BY JOHN THILPOT CURRAN, ESQ. 

Behold the mournful train appears, 

In sad procession slow ; 
Whose lengthened sighs and falling tears 

Bespeak the heartfelt woe : 






THE STRANGER IN IRELAND, 133 

For see, beneath that sable pall, 

Extended on that bier, 
Lie the remains, the earthly all, 

Of youthful Lamelliere. 

And is he gone ? relentless Death ! 

Could nothing stay thyhand ? 
Must his, like every common breath, 

Obey thy stern command \ 

If merit could exempt from thee, 

Wit, genius, learning, worth ; 
Our much-lov'd pastor should not be 

Thus early snatch'd from earth : 

Those lips, whence sacred truth, good sense* 

And soft persuasion flow'd, 
With graceful, manly eloquence, 

Might still their powers have show'd. 

That heart which felt for others' woe, 

Wheie meek-ey'd Pity sweet, 
And hear'n-born Charity did glow, 

Should not have ceased to beat : 

But none, oh Death ! thy power can fly, 

In vain we shed the tear ,- 
We know 'tis vain, yet ev'ry eye 

Must weep for Lamelliere. 

His friends bewail a treasure lost : 

The sickly sufferer, 
The poor, and those by sorrow crost, 

A soothing comforter. 

His father ! hold, my trembling hand, 

Seek not to paint that woe, 
Which feeling hearts may understand. 

But words can never show 



134 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND 

A while to his associates lent, 

Towards Heav'n to point the way; 

To all, a bright example sent, 
Scarce shown, when snatch'd away. 

Thus have we seen, in awful night, 

A meteor through the sky 
Shed all around refulgent light, 

Then vanish from the eye. , 

Though quickly gone, nor left a trace, 

To mark its pathless way ; 
Still Mem'ry can pourtray its place, 

And Fancy see it play. 

So will we think on Lamelliere, 

Recal his precepts sweet ; 
His name shall to our hearts be dear. 

While Mem'ry holds her seat. 

Blest youth, adieu ! thy rich reward^ 
The bliss that ne'er can cloy, 

Receive from thy approving Lord, 
" Go, enter in his joy." 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 135 



CHAPTER X. 

LITERARY PASSION OF THE IRISH. ...PAPER CALLED ANTI-UNION 
....SPECIMEN OF THEIR SONG WRITING. ...LITERARY SOCIETY 

IN DUBLIN HOSPITALITY ENGLISH PREJUDICES IRISH 

ECONOMY.. ..PRETENSIONS OF THE IRISH POTATOE TO SUPE ; 
RIORITY PROFOUNDLY EXAMINED. ...PERILOUS JUDGMENT.... 
MANNERS OF ANCIENT IRISH IRISH BREAKFAST STIR- 
ABOUT. ...THE IRISH LADIES. ...IRISH CRIM. CONS. ...THE FE- 
MALE BROGUE. ...IRISH GENTLEMEN. ...THEIR CHARACTER.... 
DUELLING. ...ANECDOTE.. ..THE IRISH TOURIST. ...IRISH MILI- 
TARY WITH RESPECT TO DUELLING. ...NAMES AND DESCRIP- 
TIONS OF DISTINGUISHED IRISHMEN IN POETRY, LEARNING, 
PAINTING, MUSIC, AND THE DRAMA. 

A STRANGER of any observation cannot remain many 
tlavs in Dublin, without noticing the uncommon thirst for literature 
which prevails in that city, as well as in the country at large. No 
country of its size, since the times of the Grecian states, ever pro- 
duced more brilliant geniuses and profoundly learned men than Ire- 
land : many of whom have been transplanted to England, and hav- 
ing there again taken root, and added to the strength and beauty of 
the land, have been regarded by common fame, as the rich produc- 
tion of its native growth. An example so brilliant has had its effect 
upon every humble member of the community of letters. Every 
one in Ireland wishes to be thought entitled to a seat in the circle 
of the beaux esfirits ; and very small is the number of those, in the 
respectable class of life, who have not been the happy authors of a 
sprightly pamphlet, a facetious song, orpointed epigram, so as to be 
noticed for their literary success as they pass along the streets. 



136 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

Judges, bishops, barristers, bankers, army-agents, clerks in office, 
are all writers, and have contributed, by solid information or playful 
pleasantry, to the augmentation of learning, or of adding a few white 
days to the calendar. In compositions of sprightliness and fancy, 
the Irish much resemble the French. A literary subject is supreme 
and paramount to all business, which I have several times, in differ- 
ent societies in Dublin, seen sustain a temporary pause, until the 
merits of a song, the most favourite and successful of the minor lite- 
rary productions of Dublin, have been canvassed and appreciated. 
The union was a fruitful subject, upon which every quill was placed 
in active requisition. A periodical paper called the Anti-Union was 
the principal depositary of the wit and talents of the day. It is 
strongly conjectured that this paper is indebted for its humour and 
wit to the contributions of Messrs. Plunket and Bushe, the present 
attorney and solicitor generals, counsellor Goold, Mr. Atkinson, 
counsellor Barrington, Anacreon Moore, and counsellor P. Burroughs. 
As the subject which called forth this paper is now at rest, I may be 
permitted to enliven my pages, by giving No. Ill as a rich specimen 
of the playfulness and fancy that distinguish it. I think, and ardently 
hope, that the union will be pregnant with blessings to Ireland; and 
those who accord with me ought to be no more offended at my in- 
troducing this extract, than if I were to relate the sprightly saying, 
of a deceased wit, to one who was not very fond of him when livingo 
It has been attributed to the present solicitor-general of Ireland. 

THE ANTI-UNION. 

NO. III. TUESDAY, JANUARY 1, 1799. 

Shallow. — " I will marry her, sir, at your request ; but if there be no great 
** love in the beginning-, yet heaven may decrease it upon better acquaint - 
" ance, when we are married, and have more occasion to know one ano- 
" ther ; I hope, upon familiarity will grow more contempt ; but if you say, 
" marry her, I will marry her, that I am freely dissolved, and disso- 
" lutely." — Merry Wife* tf Windsor, 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 137 

u THE story told in the following letter may, perhaps, appear to 
be rather the detail of a domestic grievance than a matter connected 
with the design of this paper ; yet, as it represents the distresses of 
a female and an Irishwoman, we could not refuse it admission. 

« SIR, 

" I am a young woman descended of a very ancient family, but 
owing to the thoughtlessness of my ancestors, and some foolish dis- 
putes between them, aggravated by obstinate litigation, as to the 
title of a small family estate, I was at a very early period of life 
thrown, as I may say, upon the world, with little more than youth, 
health, and a good temper, to support me. I set up a shop furnish- 
ed with but a few trifling articles; and although I encountered 
many difficulties, my situation gradually improved, and, in the 
course of a few years, I began to think of enlarging my trade, and 
bettering my condition. The chief Obstacle I had to encounter in 
this, was the jealousy and ill-nature of a distant relation by the mo- 
ther's side, who lived at no great distance from me, and who had 
taken advantage of my infancy and poverty, to treat me as a mere 
dependant, and to counteract all my efforts for opulence and com- 
fort. These pretensions of his arose from the natural pride and im- 
penousness of his disposition, joined to a sordid and dishonest wish 
to get possession of my family estate, to which he had no other 
claim, than that it lay contiguous to his own, and that we both held 
under the same landlord. At the particular period which I have 
already alluded to, my project of more extended commercial deal- 
ings alarmed all his bad feelings: our trade was of the same kind; 
I was placed in a situation more convenient for customers; and, al- 
though my capital was smaller, yet, as I was subject to less house- 
rent, he apprehended I might deal on more advantageous terms. 
He insisted, therefore, that I should submit all my affairs to his ma- 
nagement, that I should not engage in any business without his 
permission, and that all my receipts and expenditures should be re- 
gulated by persons of his appointment, and accountable merely to 
him. These proposals were so preposterous and unjust, that I posi- 
tively refused to comply with them; and having now got some 

S 



138 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

money, and many friends, who were all hearty in my cause, I spoke 
out boldly to Mr. Bull, and told him plainly that he must not inter- 
meddle in my concerns; that I was willing to live on terms of 
friendship with him, as relations should do, and that he might pro- 
bably find his account in such a commerce ; but that, if he would 
attempt to force me into compliance, his friends and mine must try 
whose heads were hardest. 

" These representations had so great an effect, that in the year 
1783j he bound himself by a deed, under his hand and seal, never 
to interfere with me or my business, but that I should have the ex- 
clusive management of and dominion over it. This satisfaction, 
and, as I then thought, unimpeachable security on his part, pro- 
duced the fullest return of friendship and confidence on mine ; my 
trade, under my own management, rapidly increased ; my knowledge 
of business ripened ; my capital doubled ; many of the incumbrances 
on my estate were cleared off; the tenants, who used to be at con- 
stant loggerheads, forgot their animosities, and paid their rents 
punctually, and I indulged myself in the fond hope of years of com- 
fort and prosperity before me. Nor had my kinsman any reason to 
be uninterested in my good fortune ; for, as I am naturally of an 
open and generous heart, I felt warm gratitude to him for doing me 
no injury, and was always ready to assist him with my credit and 
friends : indeed, to borrow a phrase from Mr. Sampson's pamphlet 
on the union*, " my interest was his interest, my prosperity his 
"prosperity, and my power his aggrandizement;" insomuch so, 
that though he had disgusted one of his own nearest relations, and 
most valuable connections, by the same mercenary and tyrannical 
conduct which he had manifested towards me, and had forced him 
totally to renounce all bonds of alliance with him, yet still I re- 
mained so closely attached to him, and by my heartiness in his cause, 
especially in his shipping business, did him so much service, that 
his best friends acknowledge he would have made a sorry figure 
without me. Well! so far as it depended upon me, things might 

* Arguments for and against an Union considered ; now known to be written 
by counsellor Sampson, notwithstanding- the contradiction thereof in Saun- 
ders' News-Letter. 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. * 139 

Jiave gone on in the same happy way to this hour ; for, although I 
am persuaded that Mr. Bull never was sincere in his accommodation 
with me, even at the time when he signed the deed (he having, in 
fact, made an attempt to violate it in two or three years after its 
execution), yet still I would, for peace sake, have submitted to 
some imposition, and would have trusted to my own temper and 
vigilance to prevent any serious rupture. But he is now bringing 
matters between us to an extremity, which makes it necessary for 
me to take a decided part. 

" It seems that for some time past he has engaged in a course of 
very ridiculous extravagance, and wasted a great part of his pro- 
perty in groundless litigation. This has been partly owing to his 
haughty, purse-proud temper; but principally to the ill-advised, 
chimerical plans of a head clerk, whom he has employed in his 
office, and to whom he has committed the management of all his 
affairs, with a blind and unaccountable infatuation. This person, 
whose father was very worthy and respectable, and who set out in 
life himself with a good character, has played the strangest set of 
pranks that ever were thought of by mortal man. To describe to you 
the dance he has led Mr. Bull would be an endless task, vapouring 
about economical expenditure and increased revenue, till he has 
left him without a guinea, and swaggering in support of the rela- 
tions of amity and peace, till he has involved him in deadly vari- 
ances with all his neighbours: suffice it to say, that he has so be- 
wildered the mind, and fatigued the body, and exhausted the wealth, 
of his unfortunate employer, that from a reasonable, healthy, 
affluent man, he has become a flimsy invalid, and, in point of credit, 
little better than a kite-flyer. But to come to what chiefly concerns 
myself: this adventurer, finding that all his projects are nearly 
blown up, and dreading the fatal consequences which must ensue 
from an abrupt disclosure to Mr. Bull and his family, of the miser- 
able extremity to which he has reduced them, has formed the 
scheme of getting possession of me and all I am worth, in the hope 
of making what they ca;l a stop-gap of me, and so protracting, for 
a while, the inevitable hour of his own disgrace and punishment. 
For this unworthy purpose, he has contrived to introduce into my 



140 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

house a set of his own creatures, whose object is to excite dissentioiv 
among the family. One in particular, who called himself a Cook, 
but really had been a scullion in Mr. Bull's family, I was prevailed 
on to hire as a shop-boy, though he was very ragged, and had no 
discharge to produce ; and notwithstanding his being very useless, 
and very saucy, yet having taken him through folly, I kept him 
through charity: but bitter cause indeed have I to repent my in- 
discretion in this particular, for I have discovered that this wretched 
creature, though he neither knows how to speak or write, yet by the 
force of impudence and cunning, and by means of a false key to my 
till, has been able to corrupt many of my domestics, to sow the most 
virulent animosities amongst others, and to blacken my reputation 
with numbers of credulous and simple people. Some of my ser- 
vants he has persuaded (by infusing groundless fears and jealousies 
into their minds) to put on orange liveries, and to threaten death 
and destruction to the rest ; those others again, by similar misre- 
presentation, he has induced to array themselves in green, and to 
commit the most horrible excesses, and others he has actually and 
openly paid with my own money, to aggravate and perpetuate the 
quarrels between the two former : but this is a mere prelude to the 
remainder of his plan, for I have discovered that this complicated 
system of vice and treachery has been adopted merely for the pur- 
pose of compelling me to marry Mr. Bull ; and this contemptible 
wretch has had, within these few days, the presumption, to avow to 
me all his enormities, and to tell me that he has so impaired my 
means, blasted my character, and exasperated my family, that I have 
no resource but in the match ; nay, he has actually been base enough 
to publish an advertisement, informing all my friends that I have 
been debauched by Mr. Bull through his procurement, and lived in 
a state of gross prostitution with him for many years past. If this 
were true, need I comment on the treachery of disclosing the past, 
and the meanness of proposing the future connection ? 

" But, sir, conceive, I beg of you, the ridiculousness of this over- 
ture. I to marry Mr. Bull! Mr. Bull, whom, in the year 1783, 
when he was tolerably vigorous, and reasonably wealthy, and well 
rpputed, I would have rejected with contempt ! Mr. Bull, now that 



THE STRx\NGER IN IRELAND. 141 ' 

he has had repeated fits of the falling sickness, and that a commis- 
sion of bankrupt is ready to issue against him ! I could not have 
believed the proposal serious, if the old gentleman himself had not 
gravely avowed it. Hear, I beg of you, the inducements which he 
holds out to me. There is to be no cohabitation, for we are still to 
continue to live on different sides of the water; no reduction of 
expences, for our separate establishments are to be kept up ; all my 
servants to be paid by me, but to take their orders from him ; the 
entire profits of my trade to be subjected to his management, and 
applied in discharge of his debts ; my family estate to be assigned 
to him, without any settlement being made on me or my issue, or 
any provision for the event of a separation. He tells me, at the 
same time, that I am to reap great advantages, the particulars of 
which he does not think proper to disclose ; and that, in the mean 
time, I must agree to the match, and that a settlement shall here- 
after be drawn up agreeable to his directions, and by his lawyers. 
This, you will say, is rather an extraordinary carte blanche from an 
insolvent gentleman, passed his grand climacteric, to a handsome 
young woman of good character and easy circumstances. But this 
is not all : the pride of the negociation is equal to its dishonesty ; 
for, though I am beset and assailed in private, and threatened with 
actual force if I do not consent to this unnatural alliance ; yet, in 
order to save the feelings of the Bull family, and to afford a pre- 
text for an inadequate settlement, I am desired, in despite of all 
maidenly precedent, to make the first public advances, and to sup- 
plicate, as a boon, that he will gratify my amorous desires, and con- 
descend to receive me and my appurtenances under his protection. 
Still one of the principal features of this odious transaction remains 
to be detailed : would you believe it, that this old sinner, several 
years ago, married a lady, who, though of harsh features and slen- 
der fortune, was of honourable parentage and good character, and 
who is at this hour alive, and treated by him with every mark of 
slight and contumely ; and it is worthy of observation, that many 
of the clauses in the articles, which were very carefully drawn up 
previous to his marriage with this lady, have been scandalously vio- 
lated by him. 



* 142 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

" Some few of my friends at first teazed me to yield to this scan- 
dalous proposal, partly apprehending that the animosities between 
my servants in the orange and green liveries cannot be in any other 
manner subdued, and partly conceiving that this is the only method 
by which I can avoid a marriage with another person who has for 
some time affected an honourable passion for me. In both these 
opinions, however, I have satisfied them they are mistaken. As to 
the first, these foolish badges have been encouraged for the very pur- 
pose of promoting Bull's match, and I am sure, by proper remon- 
strances, and indulgent treatment, on my part, I can easily persuade 
all those who regard me to lay them aside ; indeed, I think I per- 
ceive them already deserting them, in consequence of their seeing 
into the designs of those who at first instigated them ; but the truth 
is, the great bulk of my adherents never adopted either of them ; 
and, I am convinced, are heartily attached to my interests, and 
ready, if necessary, to lay down their lives to preserve me in my 
present independent state. As to the second reason, I am not in 
any danger from the proposals of marriage made to me from an- 
other quarter. I know too well the mercenary and dishonourable 
views of that person to listen to him for a moment. I have before 
my eyes the examples of the wretched victims, some of whom he 
has forcibly violated, others whom he has seduced under specious 
promises, and all of whom he has reduced to a state of vice and 
poverty. I thank God I am in no danger either from his violence 
or artifices. The truth is, I am determined to live and die a maiden, 
and I now apply to you merely for advice as to what is the most 
effectual method of protecting myself in that resolution. If my 
object was merely to get rid of Bull, the shortest way would be to 
marry him, as such an unnatural union must very soon end in sepa- 
ration and divorce ; but I have no such view : for, ill as I have been 
treated, I have no wish to break off all connection with an old ac- 
quaintance and relation, neither will I listen to the advice of those 
who bid me get into a passion, and break Bull's windows, and tar 
and feather my shop-boy (though, I confess, this latter part holds 
out strong inducements). On the whole, I am convinced that the 
true line of conduct for me to adopt is a firm and temperate one, 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 143 

I will resolutely reject the proposed match, and let my kinsman see 
the wickedness and folly of it. I will appeal to him and his friends 
against the frenzy of his clerk ; and, above all, I will lay my griev- 
ances before our head landlord, who has been always just and gra- 
cious to me, and I will rely on him for full protection. But if, after 
all, the Bulls will not suffer me to live on friendly terms with them, 
and will still persist in their dishonest practices in my family, I will 
turn out their adherents (whom I well know), and, in all events, I 
will restore my shop-boy to his original rags and insignificance, and 
send him to the place from whence he came. I will re-establish 
harmony amongst all those who should naturally be my friends ; and 
if the Bulls should attempt to offer me any insolence, I trust I shall 
be able to repel force by force. 

" I am, sir, your afflicted but determined humble servant, 

« SHEELAGH." 

Upwards of six thousand copies of a pasquinade, called the Poli- 
tical Play-bill, similar in sentiment, were sold in two days. 

As I have given a little specimen of the prose which the mea- 
sure of the union produced, my reader will perhaps be pleased with 
the following excellent song, which, amongst the many good ones 
written at that time, I think the most witty and playful, and has 
much of the spirit of Swift in it. It was a great favourite with the 
anti-unionists, and I give it with the more pleasure, because its poe- 
tical predictions have not been verified, and I feel confident never 
will be. It is from the sprightly pen of Mr. Lysaght. 

t How justly alarm'd is each Dublin cit, 

That he'll soon be transform'd to a clown, sir ; 
By a magical touch of that conjuror Pitt, 
The country is coming to town, sir. 

Chorus. — Give Pitt, and Dundas, and Jenkin a glass, 
They'll ride on John Bull and make Paddy an ass. 

Through Capel-street then you may rurally range, 

You'll scarce recognize the same street ; 
Choice turnips shall grow in the Royal Exchange, 

Fine cabbages down along Dame-street. 

Choi us. 



144 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND 

Wild oats in your college won't want to be till'd, 

And hemp in your four courts* may thrive, sir ; 
As of old shall your markets with muttonsf be fill'd. 

By St. Patrick they'll graze there alive, sir. 

Chorus. 

In the Parliament-house, quite alive shall there be, 

All the vermin your island e'er gathers : 
Full of rooks, as of old, Daly's club-house!, shall be, 

But the pigeons won*t have any feathers. 

Chorus. 

Your custom-house quay full of weeds, oh ! rare sport, 

While the minister's minions, kind elves ! sir, 
Will give you free leave all your goods to export, 

When they've left none at home for yourselves, sir 

Chorus. 

The alderman cries, corn will grow in your shops, 

This union must work our enslavement ; 
That's true, says the sheriff, for plenty of crop* 

Already I've seen on your pavement. 

Chorus. 

\ 

Ye brave loyal yeomen, dress'd gaily in red, 

This minister's plan must elate us ; 
And well may John Bull, when he's robb'd us of breach 

Call poor Ireland the land of potatoes. 

Chorus. 

Considering how strong this literary disposition is, a strange* 
cannot help expressing his surprize, to find such a paucity of lite 
rary societies, and of periodical literary publications. In Dublin 
there are only two of the former ; the Royal Irish Academy, which 
has declined since the death of that polished ornament of his coun- 
try, lord Charlemont, and the Historical Society in Trinity college, 
I have been favoured with the perusal of some of the prize produc- 

* The four courts of law and equity. 

f The word by which the Irish understand sheep) probably taken from the 
French moutons. 

\ A celebrated gaming-house. 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 145 

lions of the members of the latter, and therefore more forcibly re- 
gret that the light of such an institution should shine only within its 
own walls. The works which I saw would do honour to any literary 
institution, were they published. In the college are men of distin- 
guished genius and learning, who, by a happy mixture of various 
talents and attainments, might enlighten and illustrate the age in 
which they live. 

The daily newspapers in Dublin are Freeman's Journal, Hiber- 
nian Journal, and Saunders' News-letter. The evening papers are, 
the Dublin Evening Post, and the Evening Herald, both of which, 
with Faulkner's Journal and the Telegraph, are published three 
times in the week. When I was at Dublin there was no Sunday 
paper ; if such a print were well conducted, I should think it won 
answer. 

I need not tell my reader that I write just as my thoughts occur, 
without marshalling them with the solemnity of a herald, accord i 
to their rank and precedence, otherwise I should have mentioned 
the hospitality of the Irish before any other characteristic. T i 
generous spirit, so pregnant with every social virtue, is proverbially 
Irish, £hd has been so often commented upon, that, if my feelii 
would permit, I should have tent with the pleasure of \ 

ig a comment upon ■■} subj 

■erited euloginm. When 1 1 
Ireland, too many" of those prejudices, whi 

tions^of malignant -or stupid tourists had excited, clung about me. I 
had not inhaled the air of that country long before they dropped off, 
and no doubt retired with those venomous animals which have t 
most happily expatriated by the good apostle of Ireland, St. Pat) 
but neither that tutelar saint, nor the soft moisture of the climate, 
had any share in their removal ; they fled before the genuine cha- 
racter of the people. A stranger will always find it more easy to 
get in, than to get oat of the house of an Irishman. Before the mid- 
dling classes of society became refined, the spirit of hospitality was 
the same ; but, like a good melon, it appeared under a rough cover- 
ing : hence it was usual to force the bottle, and nail up the door, 
with barbarous conviviality. I cannot help expressing my regret 

T 



116 THE STRANGER 



that English prejudices have been sometimes strengthened even by 
the representations of Irishmen, arising from chagrin, or some worse 
motive. There is a saying amongst them, that " Put one Irishman 
" in the spit, and another will turn it." 

The tables of the Irish do not differ from ours : the same abun- 
dance, style of cookery, order, and elegance, prevail. I once saw a 
gentleman display an appearance of economy at his table, but it was 
of Irish growth; he pressed his chamjiagna to save his claret. The 
Irish pride themselves on the superiority of their potatoes, and hav- 
ing introduced them to a great part of Europe ; they think that a 
potatoe grown out of Ireland partakes of the sickly growth of an 
exotic, and cannot be good. As if the daughter born in France, 
could not be as handsome as the mother bom in England. Fonte- 
nelle has said, " Had I my hand full of truths, I would think twice 
" before I would open it." Twice have I thought, and, although I 
fear I never shall be permitted to eat another potatoe in Ireland after 
the declaration, I do, with all the solemnity due to the occasion, 
most seriously and conscientiously declare, that, to the best of my 
observation, and according to the judgment of my palat; , I have re- 
.Loea of English growth as good as are to be found 

II tter dressed; 
| protest against 

their iritroduct >■ «* tlv 

or skins. My English reader, who has never been in Ireland, will 
scarcely think the subject worthy of remark, and will be slow in be- 
lieving how much a stranger hazards m that country, by not admit- 
ting the paramount excellence of the Irish potatoe. 

The poultry in Ireland is considered superior to ours ; their 
fowls, I think, are as delicate and highly ilavoured as those of 
Normandy. The dinner hour is generally six o'clock. An elegant 
Irish lady will smile to hear how her ancestors lived. " The Irish," 
says Dr. Ledwich, « had two meals a day ; one in winter before day ; 
" the other, and principal, late in the evening." Stamhurst must 
allude to the richer and more civilized, when he tells us they reclin- 
ed on beds. For sir John Harrington, writing in 1599, has these 
words : " Other pleasant and idle tales were needless and imperti- 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 14 

•• nent, or to describe O'Neale's fern-tables and fern-forms spre • 
" under the stately canopy of heaven. Their candles were pee] 
" rushes, enveloped in butter or grease, as in other countries tl 
" were placed in lamps of oil. They were insatiately fond of swin 
" flesh, and so abundant was it, that Cambrensis declares he nei 
" saw the same in any other country ; he notices particularly w 
" boars. These the northerns esteemed the highest luxury, « 
" can we wonder at their attracting them to this isle. A guest of 
" O'Neale asked one of his guards, whether veal was not more de- 
" licate than pork ? That, answered the other, is as if you asked 
" Was you more honourable than O'Neale ? As they did not m 
" broil or roast their meat, it was full of crude juices, and produ 
" the leprosy ; a disease very common here formerly, for Mun 
" had many leper-houses : the same has been observed of the pe< 
" with whom pork was in daily use. They were taught that 
" bad effects of this, and every other aliment, were effectually 
" rected by a</ua vita.** Chactin a son goict. If the ancient I 
were fond of pork half raw, the fashionable world, in the gay and po- 
lished age of Charles II in England, vied with each other in ha 1 
a dish of Spanish puppies at their tables. 

In miss Brooke's Reliques of the Ancient Irish Poetry, there 
note which disproves that the ancient Irish were filthy in their 
sons. The writer says : " The breast like the chalky cliff:" " ' 
" hero with the breast of snow:" " The side white as the foai 
" the falling stream :" frequently occur in our Irish poets' des( 
tions of their youthful warriors. The ideas which these pass: 
convey, are rather inconsistent with the disgusting ones that must 
be conceived of the early Irish, by those who give credit to the ac- 
counts of writers who tell us, they wore shirts dyed in saffron, for 
the convenience of hiding the dirt, and further adds, that they never 
pulled them off till fairly worn out. In thi* case, whatever nature 
might have done in blanching of their skins, habit must have coun- 
teracted all her good intentions. Whence then did the bard derive 
his idea ? So false a compliment, one would think, must rather have 
drawn resentment upon him than thanks, by reminding his slovenly 
heroes whatfijthy creatures they were. The fact is, that the ancient 



18 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

| sh were so remarkably cleanly, as never to rest from fatigue, or 
sir. down to meat, after exercise, until they had refreshed and cleansed 
themselves by ablutions. See Keating, Warner, Sec. 

An Irish breakfast is always a very bountiful one, and contains, 

elusive of cold meats, most excellent eggs and honey; at the 

house of a particular friend I met with the ancient favourite aliment 

in Ireland called stirabout, a sort of hasty pudding made of oaten- 

meal. 

The ladies of Ireland possess a peculiarly pleasing frankness of 
manners, and a vivacity in conversation, which render highly inte- 
sting all they do and all they say. In this open sweetness of de- 
portment, the libertine finds no encouragement ; for their modesty 
must be the subject of remark and eulogy with every stranger. I 
ve been speaking of the respectable class of female society, but 
5 same virtue is to be found in the wretched mud cabin. The in- 
inces of connubial defection are fewer in Ireland, for its size, than 
,.y other country of equal civilization. The appeal of the injured 
husband to the tribunal of the laws is rare. A distinguished advo- 
cate at the Irish bar assured me, that for the last six years there 
have not been more than five actions of crim. con., and not so many 
for the preceding twenty years. Two of those actions were between 
persons of very unequal situations of life in point of fortune, and 
were by the bar supposed to have originated in collusion for the 
hope of gain. 

The modesty of the Irish ladies is the effect of principle, and 
not of any coldness in the organization of nature ; in no country are 
the women more fruitful. The husband only feels the tender re- 
grets of love when business tears him from his home : he rarelv 
knows the pang of him, 

" Who doats yet doubts, suspects yet fondly loves." 

The instances of ladies " living and dying in single blessedness'- 
are rare in Ireland. I saw only two old maids, and they were too 
amiable and pleasant not to convince me that their situation was 
their choice. The upper classes of Irish women are very hand- 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 149 

some, and finely formed ; and if I did not apprehend that the re- 
viewers would cry out against me, I would enumerate some of those 
whom I had the happiness of seeing, beginning amongst the married 
ladies with lady Denny Floyd, Mrs. Ridgeway, Sec. The lower Irish 
countrywomen are so disfigured by the smoke of their cabins, and 
their feet are so enlarged by being exposed without either shoes or 
stockings, that I think them inferior in complexion and form to the 
female peasantry of England. The commonest women in Dublin 
are, however, in general remarkable for the delicacy of their hands 
and arms, and the whiteness of the bosom . They are also in gene- 
ral powerfully made, and able to protect themselves. In Dublin I 
saw a combat between an English footman and an Irish fishwoman, 
which was well maintained for some time, until at length the foot- 
man got most soundly thrashed, and was obliged to yield: the fair 
Mendoza received many severe blows, but the bystanders never in- 
terfered, so convinced were they of the superiority of her stamina, 
and pugilistic powers. In England the low Irishwomen by their 
valour alone have established the right of carrying baskets in Co- 
vent-garden, that is, of conveying the vegetables and fruit purchased 
there to the house of the buyer, in their own body. 

The ladies of Ireland are generally elegantly, and frequently 
highly educated ; there are very few who do not speak French fluently, 
and many speak it with the purity of its native accentuation. They 
also frequently add Italian to their accomplishments, and it-is no un- 
usual circumstance to hear a young lady enter, with a critical know- 
ledge, into the merits of the most celebrated authors, with a diffidence 
which shows that she is moved by a thirst for knowledge, and not by 
vanity. They are more highly accomplished in instrumental than 
in vocal music : a greater musical treat can scarcely be enjoyed than 
to hear some of them perform their own Irish airs, which are singu- 
larly sweet, simple, and affecting. Those who have been present at 
a ball in Ireland, can best attest the spirit, good-humour, grace, and 
elegance, which prevail in it : in this accomplishment they may rank 
next to the animated inhabitants of Paris. The balls in Dublin are 
very frequent, owing to there being such a poverty of public amuse- 
ment, and this circumstance has also an evident tendency to enlarge 



150 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

and strengthen the social circle. Many of the ladies have a little of 
that peculiarity of pronunciation which is coarsely called the brogue, 
but it is a very small portion of it, and is far from being unpleasant, 
as long as a stranger is susceptible of it, which is but for a very short 
time. It is but natural to suppose that the pronunciation of an En- 
glish lady must be as perceptible to an Irish lady, who had always 
been confined to her own country, as that of the latter is to the for- 
mer. A fair friend of mine who had never been out of Ireland, said 
to me one day, that she knew such a lady to be an English one, be- 
cause she spoke " so strong. 19 

I know not how to make my reader better acquainted with the 
Irish gentry, than by the following description which Grattan has 
given of them: " I think," said he, " I know my country; I think I 
" have a right to know her. She has her weaknesses : were she 
" perfect, one would admire her more, but love her less. The gen- 
« tlemcn of Ireland act on sudden impulse, but that impulse is the 
" result of a ivarm heart, a strong head, and great personal deter- 
M initiation. The errors incident to such a principle of action must 
" be their errors, but then the virtues belonging to that principle 
" must be their virtues also ; such errors may give a pretence to their 
J; enemies, but such virtues afford salvation to their country." 

The practice of duelling, which has effected more injury to the 
Irish character than any other cause, is subsiding ; but truth calls upon 
me to say, that it still has too wide a latitude of action. I do not defend 
duelling, but there are circumstances which call for an appeal be- 
yond the law, and will be satisfied ; and the revenge of a bruiser is 
that of a blackguard. The cause which provokes a duel ought to be 
of an imperious nature, and the remedy would then be more rarely 
sought. 

At a bookseller's in Nassau-street I purchased a pamphlet, of 
which the seller said he had sold many copies, entitled, " Advice to 
" Seconds," containing general rules and instructions for all seconds 
in duels. I one day breakfasted with a gentleman; a shirt was air- j. 
ing at the fire, and I observed that it was patched at the bottom in two 
places. I was of course a little surprised at such a discovery in any 
part of the dress of a man of rank and fortune ; he s^w what had 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 151 

tttracted my eye, and laughingly told me that he had been shot 
hrough the body in a duel in that very shirt, and that it was its turn 
that day to be worn : the wound, I found, had nearly proved fatal, but 
lid honour to the patriotic spirit of the owner of the shirt. Formerly 
this appeal to bullets or cold iron was horribly and ridiculously fre- 
quent in Ireland. An Irish gentleman informed me, that some years 
>ince an acquaintance of his, just arrived in Ireland from England, 
nit up at an inn, and hearing a noise in the next room like some- 
x)dy pricking the wainscoat with a sword, called up the waiter, and 
lemanded of him the cause of his being so disturbed : a Oh ! and 

< plaze your honour," said the fellow, " it's only lord C pushing 

' a little, because he expects to light with some of his friends whom 
F he has asked to dine with him here to-day." It was not from a san- 
guinary disposition, but solely from the chivalrous desire of preserving- 
he far-famed bravery of his country from the stain of a doubt, that 
)ften induced an Irishman to mingle in a fray where he could have 
10 interest or provocation. A story is related of an Irishman, who, 
laving had a large fortune suddenly devolved upon him, resolved 
lpon making the grand tour of the continent of Europe. After 
passing through France and Italy, and part of Spain, with scarcely any 
amotions of delight, he entered a village in the latter country, where 
lie saw a mob fighting very desperately, upon which in a moment he 
sprung out of his travelling carriage, and without once inquiring into 
he cause of the battle, or ascertaining which side he ought in justice 
Lo espouse, he laid about him with his shilala, and after having had 
several of his teeth knocked out, and an eye closed, and the bridge of 
his nose broken, he returned to his carriage, and exclaimed, u By 
;t Jasus, it is the only bit of fun I have had since I left Ireland." 

In the course of my tour I occasionally mingled with many mili- 
tia-officers, and had the pleasure of dining at several messes. 1 found 
that duelling had very much subsided, and that it was far from raising 
those who engaged in it in the opinion of their brother-officers. From 
one regiment, the officers of which I knew, an Irish officer was dis- 
missed for quarrelling and challenging, and a resolution was entered 
into, that any gentleman of that regiment who accepted a challenge 
from such expelled officer, should be sent to Coventry by the whole 



152 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 



mess. The result of many inquiries upon the subject was, that mili- 
tary duels in Ireland are rare. v - 

Having in the course of this chapter spoken of the literary repu- 
tation of Ireland, I shall close it by subjoining a list of those distin- 
guished men and women who have shed lustre upon their country by 
their celebrity in poetry, history, painting, music, and the drama. I 
have taken pains to make my list accurate, but it is possible I may 
have omitted some names which are as worthy of admiration as those 
inserted. 



IRISH AUTHORS. 



Usher, chronologist, linguist, and 
biblical critic. 

Boyle, philosopher. 

Denham, poet. 

Farquhar, dramatist. 

Congreve, poet. 

Sir Richard Steele, poet and poli- 
tical writer. 

Sir Hans Sloane, naturalist. 

Berkeley, mathematician and me- 
taphysician. 

Orrery, belles-lettres. 

Two Parnels, poets. 

Swift, politician and poet. 

T. Sheridan, poet and translator. 

De la Cour, poet. 

Campbell, mathematician and 
historian. 

Duncan, Dr., poet. 

Sterrit, mathematician and en- 
gineer. 

Roscommon, lord, poet. 

Ball, poet. 

Smith, naturalist and historian. 

Harris, historian. 



Murphy, dramatist and transla- 
tor. 

Archdall, antiquary. 

Burke, Dr., historian. 

Dease, surgeon. 

Carolan, poet. 

Fitzgerald, poet. 

Helsham, mathematician and phi- 
losopher. 

Bryan Robinson, physician. 

Goldsmith, poet. 

Sterne, sentimentalist. 

Johnson, novel-writer." 

Three Hamiltons, mathemati* 
cians. 

Young, mathematician. 

Charlemont, lord, belles-lettres. 

Kir wan, mineralogist. 

Bickerstaflf, dramatist. 

Macklin, dramatist. 

Malone, commentator. 

Canning, poet. 

F. Sheridan, political writer. 

Griffiths, belles-lettres. 

Ccurtenay, orator and poet- 






THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 



153 



Barre, writer and orator. 

Hussey, belles-lettres. 

R. B. Sheridan, dramatist and 
orator. 

Patrick Linden, poet. 

O'Geran, poet. 

Father O'Leary, polemical wri- 
ter. 

Tickel, poet. 

Brooke, poet and dramatist. 

Leland, historian. 

Hales, philologist. 

Stock, philologist. 

Grattan, politician and orator. 

Beaufort, mathematician and na- 
turalist. 

Lovell Edgeworth, belles-lettres. 

Thomas Moore, poet. 

Lord viscount Strangford, poet 
and translator. 

Atkinson, dramatist, poet. 

Boyd, poet. 

Shee, poet. 

Ledwich, antiquary. 

J. C. Walker, belles-lettres and 
antiquary. 

Theophilus Swift, poet. 

Edmund Swift, poet. 

Brown, Dr., naturalist. 

Barry, Dr., physician. 

Two Sterlings, poets. 

Kim?;, poet. 

O'Hallaran, historian and physi- 
. cian. 

Burgh, belles-lettres. 

Burke, belles-lettres, politician, 
and orator. 



Bushe, politician and advocate. 

Duigenan, Dr., belles-lettres and 
politician. 

H.Kelly, politician and dramatist, 

Eccles, commentator. 

Dermody, poet. 

Luke Aylmer Conolly, poet. 

Hardy, belles-lettres * 

Preston, poet. 

Two Kearneys, philologists. 

Drennan, physician and politi- 
cian. 

Cherry, dramatist. 

Wilson, biographer, 

Tresham, poet. 

W^hyte, poet. 

Whitelaw, statist and philanthro* 
pist. 

Sir Richard Musgrave, historian, 
politician, and belles-lettres. 

Sir Lawrence Parsons, historian, 

Plunket, politician and advocate. 

Romney Robinson, poet. 

M'Nally, dramatist and advocate. 

Lysaght, poet. 

Lady Tuite, poet. 

Mrs. O'Neile, poet. 

Lady Burrell, poet. 

Mrs. Grierson, translator. 

Mrs. Pilkington, poet. 

Mrs. Griffiths, belles-lettres. 

Mrs. Brooke, novelist and belles- 
lettres. 

Mrs. Sheridan, novel-writer and 
belles-lettres. 

Miss Brookes, poet and translator, 
U 



154 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND: 



Mrs. H. Tighe, poet. 


Sir John Stevenson. 


Miss Edge worth, belles-lettres. 


Moore. 


Mrs. Lefanue, belles-lettres. 


Lady Steward. 


Miss Owenson, novel-writer. 






Dramatic perform ei\ 


Artists. 


Barry. 


Barry, historical painter. 


Sheridan. 


Shee, R. A., portrait-painter. 


Ryder. 


Tresham,R. A., historical paint- 


Moody. 


er. 


Betty. 


Garvey, R. A. 


Macklin. 


Ashford, landscape-painter. 


Johnstone .- 


Pope, portrait-painter. 


O'Reilly. 


Hamilton, portrait-painter. 


Pope. 


De Grey. 


Cherry. 


Heweston, sculptor. 




Williams, landscape and portrait- 


Mrs. Woffington 


painter. 


Mrs. Jordan, 


Smith, modeller. 




Hickey, sculptor. 


Singers 


Hand) glass-stainer. 


Sir John Stevenson 




Kelly. 


Comfiosefs, 


Cooke » 



Corolan. 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND, 155 



CHAPTER XL 

HARACTER OF LOW IRISH. ...THEIR INGENUITY IRISH RE- 
CRUITS LOCAL ORGANIZATION LYING AND STEALING.... 

DITCH SCHOOLS NATIVE URBANITY COMMON MODES OF 

SALUTATION.. ..DREAD OF BEING THOUGHT IGNORANT.. .. HOS- 
PITALITY OF LOW IRISH. ...THE STRANGER'S FLUTE. ...THEIR 

SOCIABILITY PATRONS AND BROKEN HEADS DRUIDICAL 

SUPERSTITION. ...UNPLEASANT CUSTOM....IRISH IMPRECATIONS 
....ANNIVERSARY OF ST. PATRICK AND SHEELAGH.... HERRING 
WHIPPING THE FAIRY BANSHEE INNOCENCE AND LICEN- 
TIOUSNESS ILLUSTRATED NATURAL DELICACY. ...CLEANLI- 
NESS.. ..BRAVERY, ITS EFFECT. ...PRECIPITATION OF SPEECH... 
WHIMSICAL ANECDOTES. 

1 HAVE in the course of this tour mentioned some cir- 
cumstances to illustrate the character of the low Irish ; and a little 
closer view of it may not be unpleasant. 

In this class of society, a stranger will see a perfect picture of 
nature. Pat stands before him, thanks to those who ought long 
since to have cherished and instructed him, as it were "inmudder's 
" (mother's) nakedness." His wit and warmth of heart are his own, 
his errors and their consequences will not be registered against him. 
I speak of him in a quiescent state, and not when suffering and ig- 
norance led him into scenes of tumult, which inflamed his mind and 
blood to deeds that are foreign to his nature. We know that the 
best when corrupted become the worst, and that the vulgar mind 
when overheated will rush headlong into the most brutal excesses, 
more especially if, in pursuing a summary remedy for a real or sup- 
posed wrong, it has the example of occasional cruelty and oppre? 7 
Son presented by those against whom it advances. 



156 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

The lower Irish are remarkable for their ingenuity and docility, 
and a quick conception ; in these properties they are equalled only 
by the Russians. It is curious to see with what scanty materials 
they will work ; they build their own cabins, and make bridles, stir- 
rups, cruppers, and ropes for every rustic purpose, of hay ; and 
British adjutants allow that an Irish recruit is sooner made a soldier 
of than an English one. 

That the Irish are not naturally lazy, is evident from the quan- 
tity of laborious work which they will perform, when they have 
much to do, which is not frequently the case in their own country, 
and are adequately paid for it, so as to enable them to get proper 
food to support severe toil. Upon this principle, in England, an 
Irish labourer is always preferred. It has been asserted by Dr. 
Campbell, who wrote in 1777, that the Irish recruits were in gene- 
ral short, owing to the poverty of their food ; if this assertion were 
correct, and few tourists appear to have been more accurate, they 
are much altered since that gentleman wrote ; for most of the Irish 
militia regiments which I saw exhibited very fine-looking men, fre- 
quently exceeding the ordinary stature ; and at the same time I 
must confess, I do not see how meagre diet is likely to curtail the 
height of a man. Perhaps the doctor might have seen some 
mountaineer recruits, and mountaineers are generally less in all 
regions, according to the old adage — • 

" The higher the hill, the shorter the grass." 

If I w r as gratified by contemplating the militia of Ireland, I 
could not fail of deriving the greatest satisfaction from seeing those 
distinguished heroes, the volunteers of Ireland : this army of 
patriots, composed of catholics as well as protestants, amounts to 
about eighty thousand men ; when their country was in danger, 
they left their families, their homes, and their occupations, and 
placed themselves in martial array against the invader and the dis- 
turber of her repose : they fought, bled, and conquered ; and their 
names will be enrolled in the grateful page of history, as tlu 
saviours of their native land. 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 157 

What they have done, their brethren in arms on this side of the 
water ate prepared and anxious to perform ; and whenever the op- 
portunity occurs, will cover themselves with equal glory. 

The handsomest peasants in Ireland are the natives of Kilkenny 
and the neighbourhood, and the most wretched and squalid near 
Cork and Waterford, and in Munster and Connaught. In the 
county of Roscommon the male and female peasantry and horses 
are handsome ; the former are fair and tall, and possess great flexi- 
bility of muscle : the men are the best leapers in Ireland : the finest 
hunters and most expert huntsmen are to be found in the fine sport- 
ing county of Fermanagh. In the county of Meath the peasants 
are very heavily limbed. In the county of Kerry, and along the 
western shore, the peasants very much resemble the Spaniards in 
expression of countenance, and colour of hair. 

The lower orders will occasionally lie, and so will the lower 
orders of any other country, unless they are instructed better ; and 
so should we all, had we not been corrected in our childhood for 
doing it. It has been asserted, that the low Irish are addicted to 
pilfering ; I met with no instance of it personally. An intelligent 
friend of mine, one of the largest linen-manufacturers in the north 
of Ireland, in whose house there is seldom less than twelve or fifteen 
hundred pounds in cash, surrounded with two or three hundred poor 
peasants, retires at night to his bed without bolting a door, or fasten- 
ing a window. During lady Cathcart's imprisonment in her own 
hous-2 in Ireland, for twenty years, by the orders of her husband, an 
affair which made a great noise some years since, her ladyship 
wished to remove some remarkably fine and valuable diamonds, 
which she had concealed from her husband, out of the house, but 
having no friend or servant whom she could trust, she spoke to a 
miserable beggar-woman who used to come to the house, from the 
window of the room in which she was confined. The woman pro- 
mised to take care of the jewels, and lady Cathcart accordingly 
threw the parcel containing them to her out of the window ; the 
poor mendicant conveyed them to the person to whom they were 
addressed ; and when lady Cathcart recovered her liberty some 
years afterwards, her diamonds were safely restored to her. I was 



158 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

well informed, that a disposition to inebriation amongst the peasan^ 
try had rather subsided, and had principally confined itself to 
Dublin. 

The instruction of the common people is in the lowest state of 
degradation. In the summer a wretched uncharactered itinerant 
derives a scanty and precarious existence by wandering from parish 
to parish, and opening a school in some ditch covered with heath 
and furze, to which the inhabitants send their children to be in- 
structed by the miserable breadless being, who is nearly as ignorant 
as themselves ; and in the winter, these pedagogue pedlars go 
from door to door offering their services, and pick up just sufficient 
to prevent themselves from perishing by famine. What proportion 
of morals and learning can flow from such a source into the mind of 
the ragged young pupil, can easily be imagined, but cannot be re- 
flected upon without serious concern. A gentleman of undoubted 
veracity stated, not long since, before the Dublin Association for 
distributing Bibles and Testaments amongst the poor, that whole 
parishes were without a Bible. 

With an uncommon intellect, more exercised than cultivated, 
the peasantry have been kept in a state of degradation, which is too 
well known, and which will be touched upon in a future part of this 
sketch. 

Their native urbanity to each other is very pleasing; I have 
frequently seen two boors take off their hats and salute each other 
with great civility. The expressions of these fellows upon meeting 
one another, are full of cordiality. One of them in Dublin met a 
cam rogue, in plain English, a boy after his own heart, who, in the 
sincerity of his soul, exclaimed, " Paddy ! myself 's glad to see 
" you, for in troth I wish you well." " By my shoul, I knows it 
" well," said the other, " but you have but the half of it ;" that is, the 
pleasure is divided. If you ask a common fellow in the streets of 
Dublin which is the way to a place, he will take off his hat, and if 
lie does not know it, he will take care not to tell you so (for nothing 
is more painful to an Irishman than to be thought ignorant) ; he 
will either direct you by an appeal to his imagination, which is ever 
ready, or he will say, " I shall find it out for your honour imme- 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 159 

Uiately;" and away he flies into some shop for information, which 
he is happy to be the bearer of, without any hope of reward. 

Their hospitality, when their circumstances are not too wretch- 
ed to display it, is remarkably great. The neighbour or the stranger 
finds every man's door open, and to walk in without ceremony at * 
meal-time, and to partake of his bowl of potatoes, is always sure to 
give pleasure to every one of the house, and the pig is turned out to 
make room for the gentleman. If the visitor can relate a lively 
tale, or play upon any instrument, all the family is in smiles, and 
the young will begin a merry dance, whilst the old will smoke after 
one another out of the same pipe, and entertain each other with 
stories. A gentleman of an erratic turn was pointed out to me, who, 
with his flute in his hand, a clean pair of stockings and a shirt in 
his pocket, wandered through the country every summer ; wherever 
he stopped the face of a stranger made him welcome, and the sight 
of his instrument doubly so ; the best seat, if they had any, the best 
potatoes and new milk, were allotted for his dinner ; and clean 
straw, and sometimes a pair of sheets, formed his bed ; which, al- 
though frequently not a bed of roses, was always rendered welcome 
by fatigue, and the peculiar bias of his mind. 

Curran, in one of his celebrated speeches, thus beautifully des- 
cribed the native hospitality of his country : " The hospitality of 
" other countries is a matter of necessity, or convention ; in savage 
" nations, of the first ; in polished of the latter : but the hospitality 
" of an Irishman is not the running account of posted and ledgcrcd 
« courtesies, as in other countries : it springs, like all his other qua- 
" lities, his faults, his virtues, directly from the heart. The heart 
" of an Irishman is by nature bold, and he confides ; it is tender. 
" and he loves; it is generous, and he gives; it is social, and he is 
« hospitable." 

The peasantry are uncommonly attached to their ancient melo- 
dies, some of which are exquisitely beautiful. In some parts of Ire- 
land the harp is yet in use; but the Irish bagpipe is the favourite 
instrument. The stock of national music has not been much efi- 
ereased of late years. The Irish of all classes are fond of music. 
Amongst the higher orders of Irish, capable of appreciating; the un^ 



160 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

rivalled extent of his genius in music, I heard the name of Viott' 
mentioned with the admiration which is due to his talents, and the 
respect which belongs to his character. 

Of the accuracy of their ear, sir J. Hawkins, in his History of 
Music, vol. v., mentions the following instance. Speaking of the ce- 
lebrated Dubourg, he says, that he often wished to enjoy, unobserv- 
ed, the spirit of an Irish fair ; and that an opportunity of gratifying 
his wish soon occurred at Dunboyne, near Dublin, where the 
greatest fair in the country is annually held. Having disfigured 
himself as a country fiddler, he sallied forth amongst the tents, and 
was soon engaged by a group of dancers who stood up to dance, but 
who, instead of dancing, became fixed with rapture, although he 
exerted himself to play in character, and as discordantly as he could, 
At length the crowd thickened so much, that he thought it most 
prudent to retire. 

A Sunday with the peasantry in Ireland is not unlike the same 
day in France. After the hours of devotion, a spirit of gaiety shines 
upon every hour, the bagpipe is heard, and every foot is in motion. 
The cabin on this day is deserted ; and families, in order to meet to- 
gether, and enjoy the luxury of a social chit-chat, even in rain and 
snow, will walk three or four miles to a given spot. The same so- 
cial disposition attaches them to a festive meeting, which owes its 
origin to the following circumstance : in the provinces of Munster 
and Connaught, and other counties, there were several fountains and 
wells, which, in the early ages of Christianity, were dedicated to some 
favourite saint, whose patronage was supposed to give such sanctity 
to the waters, that the invalids who were immersed in them lost all 
their maladies. On the anniversary of each saint, numbers flocked 
>-. round these wells for the united purpose of devotion and amuse- 
ment; tents and booths were pitched in the adjoining fields ; erratic 
musicians, hawkers, and showmen assembled from the neighbour- 
ing towns, and priests came to hear confessions : the devotees, after 
going round the holy wells several times on their bare knees, the 
laceration of which had a marvellous effect in expiating offences, 
closed the evening by dancing, and at their departure fastened a 
small piece of cIoJi round the branch of the trees or bushes grow- 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 161 

ing near these consecrated waters, as a memorial of their having 
performed their penitential exercises. 

In the year 1780 the priests discontinued their attendance, but 
the patrons, as these meetings were called, still continued the same, 
and to this day attract all the country for ten or twenty miles round, 
At these assemblies many droll things are said, many engagements 
of friendship are made, and many heads are broken as the power of 
whiskey developes itself: but revenge rises not with the morning. 
Pat awakes, finds a hole in his head, which nature, without confining 
the energies of the mind, seems to have formed in contemplation of 
the consequences of these festive associations ; he no longer remem- 
bers the hand that gave the blow, and vigorous health, and a purity 
of blood, very speedily fill up the fissure. I have before given in- 
stances of their native humour, and, as they occur, I shall give 
others. The following story is an instance of that quality united to 
considerable shrewdness. An Irishman, on having knocked at the 
door of a low priest after one of these patrons, and requested a 
night's lodging, the priest told him that he could not accommodate 
him, because there were only two beds in the house ; one for him- 
self, and the other for his niece, pointing to their rooms. Pat beg- 
ged permission to sit down ; and, whilst the priest and his niece 
went out for some thing, he took the bellows and put it in the young 
lady's bed, and calling about five days afterwards, found it there 
still. 

A faint trait of druidical superstition still lingers amongst the 
peasantry of Munster, where, if a murder has been committed in 
the open air, it is considered indispensable in every Roman catholic 
who passes by to throw a stone on the spot, which, from a strict ad- 
hesion to this custom, presents a considerable pyramid of stones. In 
the counties of Tipperary and Kerry, also, these stony piles are to 
be found, which are beautifully and expressively called clogh-breegh, 
or stones of sorrow. 

In Ireland the grim tyrant is noticed with eccentric honours, 
Upon the death of an Irish man or woman, the straw upon which 
the deceased reposed is burned before the cabin door, and as the 
flames arise the family set up the death howl. At night the body, 

X 



i&2 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

with the face exposed, and the rest covered with a white sheet, pla- 
ced upon some boards, or an unhinged door supported/ by stools, is 
waked, when all the relatives, friends, and neighbours of the de- 
ceased assemble together, candles and candlesticks, borrowed from 
the neighbourhood, are stuck round the deceased, according to the 
circumstances of the family, the company is regaled with whiskey, 
ale, cake, pipes and tobacco. A sprightly tourist, whose name does not 
appear to his book, observes that, " Walking out one morning ra- 
« ther early, 1 heard dreadful groans and shrieks in a house. At* 
" tracted by curiosity I entered, and saw in a room about fifty women 
u weeping over a poor old man, who died a couple of days before. 
»< Four of them in particular made more noise than the rest, tore 
" their hair, and often embraced the deceased. I remarked that in 
" about a quarter of an hour they were tired, went into another 
" room, and were replaced by four others, who continued . their 
" shrieks until the others were recovered ; these, after swallowing a 
" large glass of whiskey, to enable them to make more noise, re- 
" sumed their places, and the others went to refresh themselves." 

Miss Edgeworth's admirable work, called Rack-Rent, states, 
" After a fit of universal sorrow, and the comfort of an universal 
a dram, the scandal of the neighbourhood, as in higher circles, oc- 
" cupies the company. The young lads and lasses romp with one 
" another, and when the fathers and mothers are at last overcome 
" with sleep and whiskey, the youths become more enterprizing, 
" and are frequently successful. It is said that more matches are 
" made at wakes than at weddings." A very disgusting circum- 
stance occurred whilst I was in Dublin, to the disgrace of the civil 
government of a city so noble and polished. A man was found 
drowned in the Liffey ; he was taken up, and, instead of being car- 
ried to some bone-house to be owned, the body was exposed in the 
street for two days, near the Queen's-bridge, upon straw, with a 
plate of salt on his breast, to excite the pity of passengers to place 
money upon it, for the purpose of appeasing the manes of the de- 
ceased with a convivial funeral. 

Amongst the mortuary peculiarities of the Irish, their love for 
posthumous honours, which I have before glanced at, is worthy of 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 163 

remark. An elderly man, whom a much esteemed clerical friend of 
mine attended in the last stage of existence, met death with fortitude, 
but expressed his grief that his dissolution should take place at a 
time when the employments of spring would prevent his funeral 
from being numerously attended. This is a general national trait ; 
and a grievous imprecation in the Irish language is, " May your 
" burial be forsaken:" they have also another very figurative male- 
diction, " May the grass grow green before your door." 

Their oaths are frequently very whimsical ; the following are spe- 
cimens of them : " By the seven pipes that played before Moses the 
" night he was born, and that's musical :" " Swear by your father's 
" beard, and that's a hairy oath:" they also swear by St. Patrick's 
tooth, by the bones of St. Ruth, and the black bell that finds out truth. 
They have an expression of anger, which at first might well be mis- 
taken for a benediction. « May God bless you," says a low Irishman 
to the person who has offended him, by which he means that he can* 
not obtain the blessing of man. 

Some of their customs are singular and characteristic. On the 
anniversary of St. Patrick, the country people assemble in their 
nearest towns or villages, get very tipsy (but not bled by surgeons as 
some author has asserted), and walk through the streets with the 
trifolium pratense, or, as they call it, shamrock, in their hats, when 
whiskey is drank in copious libations ; and, from a spirit of gallantry, 
these merry devotees continue drunk the greater part of the next 
day, viz., the 18th of March, all in honour of Sheelagh, St. Pa- 
trick's wife. I cannot give a better description of this sort of revel, 
allowing for some little changes of time, than in the following poem, 
which was composed by Hugh M'Gauran, called Pleraca na Ruar- 
cach, or O'Rourke's Feast. The fame of this song having reached 
dean Swift, he requested of the author a literal translation of it, and 
gave it the following version. O'Rourke was a powerful and turbu- 
lent chieftain in the time of queen Elizabeth, who, under an appear- 
ance of courtesy, but merely to break the rebellious disposition of his 
clan, invited him to London, where, struck with the beauty of his 
person, she became enamoured with him ; and, it is said, favoured 
him with private assignations, without his being conscious for some 
time of the rank and dignity of his indulgent mistress. 



164 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND 

O Rourke's noble fare 
Will ne'er be forgot, 

By those who were there* 
Or those who were not. 

His revels to keep, 
We sup and we dine 

On seven score sheep, 
Fat bullocks and swine. - 

Usquebaugh to our feast 
In pails was brought up, 

A hundred at least, 

And a madder* our cup 

O there is the sport \ 
We rise with the light, 

In disorderly sort, 

From snoring all night. 

O how was I trick'd ! 

My pipe it was broke, 
My pocket was pick'd, 

I lost my new cloak . 

I'm rifled, quoth Nell, 
Of mantle and kercherf : 

Why then fare them well, 
The de'il take the searcher. 

Come, harper, strike up ; 

But, first, by your favour, 
Boy, give us a cup : .W 

Ah ! this has some savour. 

O Rourke's jolly boys 

Ne'er dreamt of the matter. 

Till rous'd by the noise, 
And musical clatter. 

* Wooden vessel f Handkerchief 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 165 

They bounce from their nest, 

No longer will tarry ; 
They rise ready drest, 

Without one ave-mary. 

They dance in a round, 

Cutting capers and ramping ; 
A mercy the ground 

Did not burst with their stamping, 

The floor is all wet * 

With leaps and with jumps. 
While the water and sweat 

Splish splash in their pumps. 

Bless you late and early, 

Laughlin O'Enagin, 
By my hand* you dance rarely,, 

Margery Grinaginf. 

Bring straw for our bed, 

Shape it down to the feet ; 
Then over us spread 

The winnowing sheet. 

To show I don't flinch, 

Fill the bowl up again ; 
Then give us a pinch 

Of your sneezing a yeanj:. 

Good Lord what a sight, 

After all their good cheer, 
For people to fight 

In the midst of their beer. 

They rise from their feast, 

And hot are their brains s 
A cubit at least, 

The length of their skeans||. 

* An Irish oath. t Tne name of an Il ** sh woman 

$ An Irish word for a woman. || Daggers, or short swords, 



166 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

What stabs and what cuts, 

What clattering of sticks ; 
What strokes on the gats, 

What basting's and kicks ! 

With cudgels of oak. 

Well hai'dened in flame ; 
A hundred heads broke, 

A hundred struck lame. 

You churl, I'll maintain 

My father built Lusk, 
The castle of Slain, 

And Carrick Drumrusk. 

The earl of Kildare, 

And Maynalta his brother, 
As great as they are, 

I was nurs'd by their mother*. 

Ask that of old madam, 

She ? ll tell you who's who. 
As far up as Adam 

She knows, it is true. 

At one of these meetings an Englishman was boasting to an 
Irishman that porter was meat and drink, and soon afterwards became 
very drunk, and returning home fell into a ditch, where Pat disco- 
vered him ; and, after looking at him for some time, he exclaimed : 
" Arrah, my honey, you said it was meat and drink to you : by my 
" shoul I it is a much better thing ; for it is washing and lodging too" 

Some of the lower orders of Roman catholics, who have been en- 
joined a strict fast (called by them black Lent), at the end of it, to 
show their exhilaration at its being over, carry about the streets a 
herring, which they whip with rods, to the great delight of all the 

* It is the custom in Ireland to call nurses foster-mothers ; their husband, 
foster-father 5 and their children foster-brothers or foster-sisters ; and thu? 
the poorest claim Kindred to the richest 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 167 

-blackguards and children of the place. They have also a custom of 
kindling bonfires upon eminences on midsummer eve, to propitiate 
the sun to ripen the fruits of the earth. Formerly they used to offer 
the same sacrifice on the first of May, and also on the last day of 
October, as a thanksgiving for harvest-home. If the sun is sensible 
of these honours, it might be supposed that a bowl of whiskey, placed 
upon his altar, would be more acceptable on account of its novelty. 

The common people also believe in fairies. In the last century, 
every great family in Ireland had a banshee ; a fairy, in the shape of 
a little frightful old woman, who used to warble a melancholy ditty 
under the windows of great houses, to warn the family that some of 
them were about to die : these agreeable supernatural visitors have 
not been seen for some time. They also believe that the ancient forts 
and mounts are sacred to a little fairy race, and therefore would not, 
for any consideration, touch them with a spade. In several parts of 
Ireland are elf-stones ; thin triangular flints, with which the peasan- 
try suppose the fairies, when angry with them, destroy their cows. 
When these animals die unexpectedly of a natural disease, they say 
they are elf shot. The rustic requires a great deal of encourage- 
ment before he can be brought to level an ant-hill, from a belief that 
it is a fairy mount. 

The lower orders of people in almost every country are super- 
stitious. Every one who has resided in Devonshire for a month, 
must have heard of the supreme power of the white witch who re^ 
sides at Exeter, and who has female agents to whom she has im- 
parted a portion of her magic, in almost every village, who have the 
property of discovering pilferers and stopping blood. 1 remember, 
being upon a visit at a house in that county, that one evening a maid- 
servant belonging to the family was sent for in great haste, to afford 
her styptic witchery to another fair damsel who had cut her thumb. 

Although it might be supposed, from a whole family of different 
sexes being crowded together in one room, in a cabin, that much in- 
decency, and consequent sensual depravity, must occur ; yet the con- 
trary, I was informed by an English gentleman who had long resided* 
in Ireland, and who had made the lower Irish the peculiar objects of 
his attention, was the case. Incest is a crime which is attended with 
peculiar detestation amongst the lower orders. Dr. Campbell, in 



168 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

speaking upon this subject, admirably observes, " Bred up from 
a childhood together, their wonted and innocent familiarity is car- 
u ried on, step by step, without impure emotions being excited. One 
64 of these poor souls is no more inflamed by the nude bosom of a sis- 
" ter, than in a more affluent state he would be on seeing it covered 
a with gauze. There is no indecency in mere nakedness. Would 
kC drapery add to the modesty of the Medicean Venus ? the chastest 
u eye may gaze upon the naked figures of the graces ; but emotions 
" will arise on seeing the lady stefifring over the stile" I remember,, 
when I was in Paris, going in company with a very amiable and en- 
lightened French lady and her daughter, to see the paintings in the 
Hotel des Invalides ; we stopped before one in which there were some 
naked figures, male and female, as large as life ; whilst we were 
looking at them, another lady, after having contemplated them with 
earnest attention for some time, through her opera* glass, exclaimed, 
" How shocking, how indecent I" and turned away. One of my fair 
friends looked round to me, and whispered : " There is no harm in 
" the picture, the impurity is in her mind." A lovely, young, and 
highly accomplished lady of the same country, with the purity of 
perfect innocence, showed me several copies of a naked female in 
various attitudes, which she had just been drawing, and observed : 
« Oest ma chere amie Caroline ; rtest-elle fias charmante?" — " It is 
9 my sweet friend Caroline ; is she not handsome V* I had the honour 
too, of having all the minuter beauties of several fine casts of nude 
statues, including the Farnese Hercules and the Belvedere Apollo, 
in the Academy of Arts, in Petersburg, critically pointed out to me 
by another young lady of the most unsullied modesty, who had just 
returned from Rome and Paris. 

That acute discernment, which in general so eminently distin- 
guishes the mind of woman, never made so sad a mistake as in the 
adoption of that rage for semi-nakedness, which, born in Paris, in- 
vaded England a short time since, -and sent so many followers of the 
fashion to the common depositary of beauty and deformity. Such 
a display (which would have crimsoned the cheeks of Elizabeth and 
all her maids of honour had they witnessed it, with whom 

'* Scarce could the panting heart be felt at all, 

•■ Tlyjough buckram breast-work, and through,, whalebone wall") 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. *167 

excited an emotion, no doubt, but it speedily subsided in apathy, and 
more colds and consumptions were caught than lovers and husbands : 
this fassion, too, was most absurdly followed. So faithless was the con- 
sultation between the person and the mirror, that the fair one who 
had nothing but sharp points to exhibit, and the lady of mountainous 
bulk, who, like Fals^taff, was ii-ua state of " perpetual dissolution and 



n a 

e an 



* thaw," scrupled not to make an exhibition as bountiful as she pre- 
sented, who, wkh^arms, neck, and bosom of polished ivory, was 
Formed to be thejyery model of the statuary. 

I will dismiss the subject by observing, that an ancient and en- 
lightened legislator, who knew the passions and the infirmities of his 
own sex well, to lessen the influence of women over men, exposed 
the former naked. 

Although most of the peasants have an abominable practice of 
heaping all the filth of their cattle and cabin in a pile before the front 
of their dwellings, until the roof in front can only be seen above it, 
yet every degree of decency prevails within. That instinctive deli- 
cacy which exists between the sexes, in every thing which is the 
subject of it in higher life, is not banished from the poor cabin. The 
low Irish are much improved in their habits of cleanliness. For- 
merly, a common fellow would not hesitate sweeping down a flight 
of stairs with his wig, and wearing it afterwards I have been in- 
formed that, to this day, at those subterranean tables a" holes in the div- 
ing cellars of St. Giles's, in London, after dinner, a large Newfound- 
land dog, or a little boy with a wig on his head, walks round the 
table for the guests to wipe their fingers upon. 

That the Irish, even in a state of political ebullition, are capable 
of generous actions the following fact will prove: during the rebel- 
lion, a protestant, who was a prisoner in the hands of the rebels, was 
called out to be executed: the executioner ordered him to turn his 
back; the prisoner refused, and calmly declared that he was not 
afraid to face death ; and just as the former was about to fire at him, 
the latter told him to stop, and requested him to dispatch him with 
dexterity ; and, pulling off his hat, coat, and waistcoat, which were 
new, threw them to him as a present to favour him with a speedy 
death. The executioner was so impressed with his conduct, that he 



168* THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

said he must be innocent, and refused to kill him ; in consequence of 
which,. another rebel rushed forward to put an end to his existence, 
upon which the executioner swore that he would lay breathless at his 
feet the first man jyho attempted to hurt one hair of the prisoner's I 
head, and conducted him in safety out of the rebel lines. 

An Irishman and a bull form a twin-thought in an Englishman's 
mind : long and inveterate prejudicW have made them as insepara- 
ble in reflection as a bull and his horns. I wen£tp France in the 
full persuasion of seeing a race of lean men, an&Mind them of the 
ordinary size and stature ; and many of them -of a bulk and vigour 
that an untravelled Englishman would reluctantly give credit to. 1 
went to Ireland, expecting a bull to fly out of every Irishman's mouth 
every third time he spoke. That the lower classes make bulls, I be- 
lieve, because I have been well informed that they do, and because 
the lower classes of other countries make them also. It may hap- 
pen that the lower Irish make more, on account of the uncommen 
quickness of their thoughts, and the volubility of their speech. A 
common Irishman seldom gives himself time for reflection; andbe^J 
fore a question is half delivered, the whole of his answer is discharged, 
and another ready to follow ; and moreover, if he knows nothing of j 
the subject on which he is asked, he is sure to give some and gene- 1 
rally an instantaneous reply. The following circumstance, which 1 
occurred last year in London, is a tolerable instance of a low Irish- : 
man speaking with that sort of precipitation. An Irish labouring- 
bricklayer laid a wager with his companion and fellow-labourer, that 
he could not carry him on his hod (a frame with a handle, which 
bricklayers use for carrying mortar upon their shoulders) up a lad- 
der to the top of a high house, and bring him down again safely : 
the bet was taken, and won. As Pat who rode upon the hod alighted, 
he said, " By Jasus, he tripped once as we were coming down, and 
" 1 was in hopes I should have won my wager." A similar want 
of reflection induced the following whimsical observation. During I 
a severe gale of wind, an Irishman, who was going to England to 
work in the harvest there, told the captain of the packet, who ap- 
peared to be much fatigued with his attention to his vessel : " Now, 
" do go below, my honey, and take a nap ; and, if we strike, never 
* fear but I'll tell you of it." 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND, 169 



CHAPTER XT 

BLUNDERS AND BULLS SHALL AND WILL WHIMSICAL EXCLA- 
MATION BEAUTIFUL EXPRESSIONS THE FAVOURITE WORD 

" ELEGANT" IRISH MONDAY GERMAN MONDAY NATIVE 

PRIDE OF IRISH DOCTOR DONOLLY BEGGING IN FORMER 

TIMES MATERNAL FONDNESS FILIAL PIETY INFLUENCE 

OF KIDNESS AND CHARACTER ON LOW IRISH THEIR DE- 
GRADED CONDITION MIDDLE-MEN SUMMARY OF THE CHA- 
RACTER OF THE IRISH MARTIAL'S BARBER. 

1 HAT blunders and bulls are not confined to Ireland, I 
think the following brief list of blunders and bulls, made in Eng- 
land and other countries, imperfect and perfect, will sufficiently 
prove. 

A LEXICOGRAPHICAL BLUNDER. 

vvhen Dr. Adam Littleton was compiling his Latin Dictionary, 
and announced the verb concurro to his amanuensis, the scribe 
imagining that, from an affinity of sound, the six first letters 
would give the translation of the word, said, " Concur, I suppose, 
Sir;" to which the doctor replied, peevishly, " Concur! condog.'" 
The secretary, whose business it was to write what his master 
dictated, accordingly did his duty, and the word condog was insert- 
ed, and was actually printed as one interpretation of " concurro" 
in the first edition, 1678, (to be seen in the British Museum) 
though it has been expunged, and does not appear in subsequent 
editions. 

AN ADVERTISING BLUNDER. 

I have frequently seen, in the windows of houses in London, 
the following notice : " A good first and second floor to be let 

unfurnished, with every other convenience" 

Y 



170 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

A POETICAL BLUNDER. 

The great Dryden, in his play called the Conquest of Grana- 
da, makes Almanzor say to Boabdelin, King of Granada : 

" Obey'd as sovereign by thy subjects be; 
" But know that / alone am king of me.'* 

The critics seized upon this expression to the no little annoy- 
ance of the poet's irritable mind, and the following ridiculous cir- 
cumstance afterwards occurred. Soon after Dr. Heylyn, the cos- 
mographer, had published his book, the doctor happened, in one 
of his walks, to lose his way upon a common, which created a 
little bantering and pleasantry amongst the doctor's friends, on 
account of his having established his reputation for a very minute 
geographer. Dryden being in company one day with the doctor's 
nephew, Colonel Heylyn, began to rally him upon the blunder of 
his uncle; and added, " Where was it that he could lose himself?" 
" Sir," said the colonel (who did not relish the joke), " I cannot 
u answer you exactly ; but I recollect that it was somewhere in the 
" kingdom of me" Dryden took his hat and walked off much 
embarrassed. 

DRAMATIC BLUNDER. 

In a fiious work called " The Apology for the Life of Mrs. 
" George Anne Bellamy," there is a story that Mrs. Kennedy, the 
tragedian, was one night announced in the playbills in the charac- 
ter of Zara, in the Mourning Bride ; that, being taken suddenly ill, 
lier sister, Mrs. Farrel (who generally filled the parts of old nurses), 
undertook to be Mrs. Kennedy's substitute. Poor Mrs. Farrel's 
performance excited strong marks of disapprobation in general ; 
but in the dying scene she was so wretched, that the house became 
uncommonly indignant: the unfortunate actress, in the last mo- 
ments of mimic death, rose from between the mutes (who were 
attending her in her last moments), and advancing to the front of 
the stage, made an apology for her performance ; and then return- 
ing to the place from whence she had risen, she completed her 
last struggle. 



I 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 171 

A LITERARY BLUNDER. 

I shall not be charged with vanity for enroling myself in the 
list of English blunderers. In a sketch of a Tour in the North of 
Europe which I submitted to the public, by a most ridiculous cir- 
cumstance, too long to be explained, I have written Goliah for 
Sampson. 

FRENCH BLUNDERS. 

A Frenchman went to the Court of the Rolls one day when 
the late Sir Pepper Arden, afterwards lord Alvanley, presided ; 
and upon coming out observed to a friend that he had just been to 
see Le Chevalier Poivre Ardent. 

ANOTHER. 

A Frenchman, in consequence of liis seeing rewards offered in 
the newspapers for the apprehension of felons, wrote in his journal 
that thieves were in such estimation in England, that premiums 
were offered for them. 

ANOTHER. 

Another foreigner, reading upon a board placed over the door 
of an undertaker in London, " Funerals performed here," inserted 
in his tour that the English were so gloomy, that in almost every 
street there were little theatres opened in which funerals were 
performed. 

AN APPARENT BULL. 

A very intelligent friend of mine, remarkable for the accuracy 
of his speech, observed, that every monumental inscription ought 
to be in Latin ; because, in consequence of its being a dead language, 
it would always live. 

PERFECT BULLS. 

A student at Cambridge called upon a friend of his college 
(an Englishman) who was indisposed, and observing in his cham- 
ber a large quantity oi oranges, inquired " What he could want 



172 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND, 

(i so many for?" " To make lemonade with them,'* was the answer. 
The author of the bull was a gentleman of high classical attain- 
ments, and was overwhelmed with astonishment and confussion 
when he discovered his mistake. 

Pope, in his translation of Homer, in speaking of an eagle and 
her young, says, 

" Eight callow infants filled the mossy nest, 
" Herself the ninth." 

Also in his Essay on Criticism : 

When first young Maro in his boundless mind 
A work V outlast immortal Rome design'd." 

T)ryden sings, 

" A horrid silence first invades the ear." 

Thompson also sings, 

" He saw her charming, but he saw not half 
" The charms her downcast modesty concealed." 

Virgil also knew how to make a bull. 

" Moriamur et in media arma ruamus." 

" Let us die, and rush in the middle of the fight.". 

But the prize bull belongs to Milton, who, in his Paradise 
Lost, sings, 

" Adam, the goodliest man of men since born, 
" His sons; the fairest of her daughters, Eve." 

A WELSH BULL. 

In some part of South Wales, where inundations were ire- 
quent, a board was raised upon a post, on which was inscribed, 
u You are hereby desired to take notice that, when this board is 
" six feet under water, this road is impassable." 

A FRENCH BULL. 

A P risian was so frightened at having been out of his depth, 
when bathing in the Seine, that he declared he never would ven- • | 
ture again into the water until he had learned to swim. 



i 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 173 

A CHINESE BULL. 

One of the Chinese emperors was so great a favourite with 
his people, that they bestowed upon him the glorious appellation 
of " The father and mother of his people." 

If it were necessary, I could produce fifty more instances to 
prove that bulls are diffused, and perhaps pretty equally, all over 
the world. 

The two signs of the future tense, in the English language> 
which so frequently puzzle foreigners, and make them wish that 
shall and will had never been heard of, are constantly misused 
by a common Irishman. " Will I help your honour to a glass of 
" whisky?" Will I do so and so? are expressions in constant use - 7 
and, during my stay in Dublin, even an Irish lady of high rank 

was heard to say at dinner, " My dear Mrs. , will I help you 

" to a little pudding?" The same confusion of the genuine mean- 
ing of words produced the following droll explanation. A gentle- 
man travelling in a post-chaise was upset; upon his getting out 
of the carriage somewhat bruised, he discharged a thousand in- 
verted blessings against the poor driver, who, with a very grave 
and significant countenance, replied : " And had I not a right to 
" throw your honour in the ditch; for is it not the first time that 
u mare, with her knee cut, was ever in harness?" They are con- 
stantly in the habit of saying, " Why, sure, it was we that ;" for 
" certain it is that we." The low Londoners say, " Shall us," for 
" shall we." I never heard a common Irishman pronounce ' was 
v, or v as w; a most offensive vulgarism of cockney growth, of 
which the following conversation, which passed between a citizen, 
and his servant, may be considered as a specimen: 

" Citizen. Villiam, I vants my vig. 

" Servant. Vitch vig, Sir ? 

" Citizen. Vy, the vite vig in the vooden vig-box, vitch I vore 
" last A Vensday at the Westry." 

I met with one expression which was peculiarly charming, and 
I am sure my reader will be pleased with the sentiment which 
it conveys to the heart. I met an idiot one day, and not knowing 
whether his case was that of mental imbecility or of madness, I . 



174 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

asked what he was ? " Ah ! and by my shoul ! your honour ! it's a 
" fioor innocent." « My w/iite -headed boy" is used by the com- 
mon Irish as an expression of fondness. They are very fond of 
the epithet elegant, as the people of Devonshire are of the word 
beautiful: a short time before I was in Ireland, " An elegant 
butcher's shofi" was advertised for sale. 

Monday is the favourite day in the week for work, or rather 
every one is very fond of postponing his labours till that day. 
Although it has been asserted, that some of the customs which 
discriminated the Irish from the English were derived from the 
north of Europe, we find them in direct opposition to the Germans 
with respect to the purposes to which Monday is applied. 

It was formerly, and in many countries it is still, the custom in 
Germany, for the journeymen, &c. employed in the lower kinds of 
trade, to consider every Monday as a day set apart for idleness, and 
no inducement can prevail upon them to apply themselves to work; 
and this day they call Blue Monday, on account, as supposed by some, 
of the bruises occasioned by the fist and cudgel, which were in fre- 
quent use among the drunken and disorderly : and by others, on ac- 
count of its having been the custom in Germany in the sixteenth 
century, to ornament the churches on fast-days with blue ; and at 
this period the tradesmen began to keep their fasts by neglecting 
their work. This was not only usual among the master tradesmen, 
but they indulged their servants likewise in the same privilege. For 
want of employment, the common people had recourse to drink- 
ing ; and, instead of fasting, it soon became a common proverb, 
" Heute blauer fraff Montag ; To-day is feasting Monday," and 
was soon distinguished by debauchery, tumult, and even blood- 
shed: in consequence of which an edict was published in 1731, by 
virtue of which the custom of keeping Blue Monday was abolish- 
ed entirely. The edict was but little attended to except in Bran- 
denburp*. In many places it was not even promulgated. The em- 
peror Francis renewed it in 1764, and a decree of the empire was 
passed to abolish Blue Monday in 1771-2; but, notwithstanding 
this, the old custom prevails, and every Monday throughout the year 
in most of the German territories, is still blue. In the hereditary 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 175 

dominions of Austria, not only laws have been enforced, but vari- 
ous other means have been adopted for this salutary purpose. 
Even in the University of Gottingen, in the Hanoverian domin- 
ions, where there is more auf klarung, as the Germans admirably 
express themselves, meaning " enlightening the mind," or a high- 
er state of refinement, this custom is still so prevalent, that I 
believe I may venture to affirm, that no journeyman tailor can be 
prevailed upon to work on Monday by any prospect ot reward, 
but generally devotes that day to the joys of Bacchus. Many an 
Irish labourer would be disposed to strip the German Monday of 
itsazure vest, clothe it in a suit of sables, and call it Black Monday . 

The common Irish marry very young, and hence there are 
very few spurious children in that country, and infanticide is 
scarcely ever heard of. 

The native pride of the low Irish is ill directed by ignorance? 
but the frequent source of many of their better qualities. Although 
there are many beggars in Dublin, and in other towns ; yet, to be 
reduced to beggary is thought so odious, that no one would set 
up for a beggar, more than he would for a prophet, in his own 
country. No one, however pinched, would ask for alms in his 
own neighbourhood. An intelligent friend of mine told me, that a 
miserable creature, who went by the name of Doctor Donolly, 
although in a state of abject penury, would never accept of a bit 
of pork, a potatoe, or a drink of milk, if offered to him ; but pre- 
ferred eating offal from a dunghill, to the idea of being supported 
as an object of charity in the place of his nativity. After a fast of 
three days, he has been known to refuse proffered victuals. This 
man one day went twenty-seven miles with a letter for a gentle- 
man to his daughter at a boarding-school: arriving early in the 
morning, the servant girl, upon opening the door, after a loud con- 
sequential double rap, was much surprised to see this wretch in 
rags, and, without asking him any questions, she said: " Go along, 
" we have got nothing for you." The doctor immediately return- 
ed home without delivermg the letter, making a distance of fifty- 
four Irish miles without having broken his fast. In this national 
trait time must have im&£ a considerable alteration ; for the inge- 



176 THE STRANGER IN 1FE.I AND. 

nious Derrick tells a story, which proves that begging was not 
thought so disreputable in former times. Upon his asking an old 
woman one day at Killarney; in Ireland, how she intended to rear 
up her family, she replied : " Some of them shall go out to ser- 
" vice ; but as for Donough, my eldest boy, who was blinded by 
" the small-pox, we have got a man to teach him the bag-pipes, 
.," with which, and begging, there is no fear, under God, but he 
" may get an honest livelihood, and live very comfortably ; at any 
a rate it is better than being a sorry tradesman" 

There have been instances of gentlemen opening gratuitous 
schools upon their estates, and, from ignorance of the character of 
their own countrymen, they have been surprised to find that fre- 
quently the poor people would not send their children ; they forgot 
that native pride which revolts at eleemosynary aid. In such an 
instance as this, if the independent spirit of the parent had been 
flattered, by calling for the payment of only a tester at the end of 
the year towards the discharge of some of the expenses incident to 
the establishment, the child would not have been withheld from it. 

The attachment of the low Irish to their children is very 
great. To play with her child is the highest delight of the mo- 
ther; and, for this indulgence, she will, by an injudicious, but 
natural miscalculation of maternal duty, omit the care of herself 
and her house : nor is the piety of their affection to their parents 
less distinguishable. Ireland is not cursed with English poor-laws: 
there are no pauper-houses there, into which a child, in the full 
vigour of life and health, can cast the hoary -headed infirm author 
of his days, as he would a loathsome incumbrance, to languish 
out the poor remains of life under the neglect or barbarity of a 
parochial officer, deserted by the being to whom he has imparted 
existence, and cut off from all the soothing endearments of filial 
gratitude. It is a rare sight to see, in Ireland, an aged parent 
begging for bread: he has rarely the necessity of appealing, in 
want and anguish, to him 

" That doth the ravens feed, 

" Yea, providently caters for the sparrow/' 

to be comfort to his age. 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 177 

Of the docility of the common Irish, when kindly treated, I 
could relate many instances. In Dean Swift's time, so great was 
the influence of his character and beneficence over them, that, at 
the sight of him, if there was a riot in the streets, they would fly 
in all directions, like school-boys before their master: with a word 
and a look, he has dispersed mobs that would have set the civil 
and military power at defiance. Mr. Bell, in his admirable 
pamphlet, relates another instance which occurred within his own 
knowledge. 

" It was with the greatest reluctance they (the common peo- 
" pie) ever consented to pay tithes: but, when any unusual 
" imposition was laid upon them, which appeared unreasonable 
" and unjust, they did not scruple to resist the levying of them 
" by force and violence. The author witnessed a very remark- 
" able instance of this kind which occurred in the county of 
" Longford, in the summer of 1778. A small assessment had 
" been laid on the parishes of a district in that county, for the 
" purpose of raising a sum of money to indemnify a person who 
" had lost a great part of his property, in consequence of its hav- 
" ing been maliciously set on fire. Among other parishes, there 
* was one of considerable extent, and about eight or nine miles 
** distant from the residence of this person, the inhabitants of 
" which openly refused to pay the contribution. They had re- 
" ceived notice on a Sunday at their chapel, that persons would 
« come to collect this money at an appointed time. On the morn- 
" ing of a subsequent Sunday, the most violent and inflammatory 
" bills were seen pasted upon the doors of the chapel, purporting 
" to be written by a man who described himself as captain of the 
" houghers, and threatening to maim and destroy the cattle of all 
" persons who should pay a farthing towards this demand. On the 
" same day, some friends belonging to the party who was to be 
" indemnified, had a conference with the people of the parish after 
" the service was concluded ; and, by persuasions and threats, 
" endeavoured to obtain their consent to the payment of the 
" money. The people became more obstinate than ever in their 
rt refusal, and bid defiance to any force that might be used to com* 

Z 



178 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

u pel the payment. A party of about a dozen horsemen, armed 
" with muskets, pistols, and swords, arrived in the course of a day 
u or two after, and proceeded to distrain the goods of those who 
" refused payment. The inhabitants immediately assembled in 
" large numbers, and attacked them with stones : the others de- 
" fended themselves, for a considerable time, with their fire-arms; 
" but were at length forced to fly, and narrowly escaped with 
" their lives. No attempt was ever made afterwards, to levy this 
" assessment by force ; but, in the course of the following year, 
" the parish-priest prevailed on the people to consent to the pay- 
" ment of it. The conciliating manner in which he addressed his 
" flock on this occasion, and the success with which this applica- 
" tion was attended, might serve as a wholesome lesson to those 
" governments who think they can do more by coercion than by 
" mildness. He told them that, l however hard and unjust it 
" might appear to them, to be obliged to make good the losses 
u sustained by a man whom they had never injured or known, yet 
" such things were always done ; it was the law ; and if any of 
" their cabins had been burnt by evil-minded persons, the law 
" would make good their loss in the same manner. Besides, it 
" was impossible for them to dispute the business any longer, 
" because the judge at the assizes had declared that the money 
" must be paid; and whatever the judge said was a law.' This 
(i address, coming from a man whom the people venerated, had 
" the desired effect, and they paid the money afterwards without 
" a murmur of disapprobation." 

Another instance is recorded of the effect which the conduct 
of the dean of Kilfenora, Dr. Stevenson, produced upon his 
parishioners during the rebellion. When this gentleman went to 
reside upon his living of Callan, one of the largest in Ireland, he 
found that a spirit of insurrection had tainted every one of his 
parishioners: instead of loading them with taunts, reproaches, 
and menaces, he attached them by kindnesses, by those courtesies 
which are dear to every feeling, and particularly to an Irish mind, 
not by gifts, which if they cannot be returned, affect the sen- 
sibility, by destroying that equality which is necessary to cordial 
attachments, but by a course of civilities and gentle expressions 3 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 179 

which can be repaid by the receiver. By this proceeding he gained 
their confidence and their love, and what was of no little conse- 
quence, the friendship of their priest. He pointed out to them the 
peril of their desperate enterprize, and, behold the fruits of a 
deportment like this ! in one day six hundred rebels came to his 
house and surrendered their arms. 

Of the extreme hardihood of the Irish, the following instances 
are given. Mr. Gordon, in his History of the Irish Rebellion, 
says, " The hardiness and agility of the labouring classes of the 
" Irish, were on this (speaking of an affair at Gorey) and other 
" occasions, in the course of the rebellion, very remarkable. Their 
" swiftness of foot, and activity in passing over brooks and ditches 
" were such,- that they could not always in crossing the fields be 
" overtaken by horsemen ; and with so much strength of con- 
" stitution were they found to be endued, that to kill them was 
« difficult, many, after a multitude of stabs, not expiring until their 
« necks were cut across." Another remarkable instance is men- 
tioned by the same author, respecting the recovery of a rebel 
named Charles Davis, of Enniscorthy, a glazier, " who, after 
" having subsisted on the body of a cock for four days, in a loath - 
si some hole where he was concealed, was discovered in the act of 
« running away from his lurking-place, and brought to Vinegar- 
" hill, where he was shot through the body and one of his arms, 
" and violently struck in several parts of the head with a pike, 
" which however penetrated not into the brain, and was thrown 
" into a grave on his back, with a heap of earth and stones over 
" him. His faithful dog having scraped away the covering from 
" his face, and cleansed it by licking the blood, he returned to life, 
« after an interment of twelve hours, and is now living in perfect 
« health." 

In battle, on shore and at sea, the Irish soldier and sailor 
have been remarkable for their valour, steadiness, and subor- 
dination ; no inconsiderable portion of the population of Ireland 
may be found on board of our ships of war. As far back as Spen- 
ser's time the bravery of the Irish soldier was honourably men- 
tioned. That happy genius says, « I have heard some great war- 



180 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

" riors say, that in all the services which they had seen abroad in 
" foreign countries, they never saw a more comely man than an 
" Irishman, nor that cometh on more bravely to his charge." 

I believe the low Irish are no more naturally prone to rebel- 
lion, than the ladies are to the forgery of franks. History makes 
honourable m ntion of their love of justice, and their submission 
to the laws. Baron Finglas, in the days of Henry the Eighth, 
thus speaks of the Irish : « The laws and statutes made by the 
" Irish on their hills, they keep firm and stable, without breaking 
" them for any favour or reward." — Baron Finglas's Breviate of 
Ireland. Sir John Davies too (attorney -general in the reign of 
James the First), acknowledges, " That there is no nation under 
u the sun that love equal and indifferent justice better than the 
" Irish ; or will rest better satisfied with the execution thereof, 
" although it be against themselves.'* — Davies's History of Ireland. 
Coke also says, " For I have been informed by many of them that 
" have had judicial places there (Ireland), and partly of mine own 
« knowledge, that there is no nation of the christian world that are 
" greater lovers of justice than they are; which virtue must of 
" necessity be accom pained by many others." — Coke's Institutes, 
chap. Ixxvi. 

Who, but those who knew the fact, would believe, that such 
a " strong, hardy, bold, brave, laborious, warmhearted, and faith- 
" ful race of men," should be so sunk in the scale of society as they 
are? In Ireland there is a description of men who are like so 
many ravenous wolves amongst the peasantry, known by the name 
of Middle-men. Between the actual proprietor, and the occupant 
of the land, there are frequently no less than four or five progres- 
sive tenants, who frequently never see the land which they hold, 
and which is assigned from one to the other, until encumbered 
and dispirited by such a concatenation of exaction, instead of 
being able to make thrice the amount of his rent, as he ought to 
be enabled to do, namely, one-third for his landlord, another for 
the support of his family, and the remaining part for contingencies, 
the last taker, can scarcely, after infinite toil and privation, pay 
"his immediate lord, and feed and clothe himself and family. 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 183 



CHAPTER XIII. 

TOUR TO KILLARNEY— NAAS-— RATHS— OTHER FORTS THE CUR- 

RAGH OF KILDARE WIT—ST. BRIGID ANECDOTES OF THAT 

IMMACULATE LADY MONASTEREVEN THE BOG OF ALLEN 

CURIOUS BOG ANECDOTES THE EMBALMED COBLER- SUBTER- 
RANEAN FORESTS REMARKS UPON THEM DUTCH BOORS 

CANALS— AMERICAN NOTIONS OF AN IMPROVED COUNTRY 

WALKING BOGS LIMERICK. 

AS the close of September was arrived, the period which 
is thought the most favourable for visiting the lakes of Killarney 
I again quitted' the capital, determined upon taking Limerick in 
my way. We stopped at Naas, which is about fifteen miles from 
Dublin, after a ride through a beautiful corn country. This town 
was formerly celebrated for being the residence of the king of 
Leinster. Upon the arrival of the English, several castles, the 
ruins of which are still visible, were erected, and the parliaments 
were formerly held here. 

Upon entering the town on the right from Dublin, is one of 
these Danish mounts or raths (rath means surety), which are so 
frequently to be met with in Ireland. These ancient fortresses- 
are circular intrenchments, thrown up on the tops of hills, some- 
times with two or three, but more frequently with a single ditch. 
Dr. Ledwich observes of them, that they are always placed upon 
elevated spots, and are of different dimensions, some measuring not 
more than ten or fifteen yards in diameter, others contain eigh- 
teen or twenty English acres. Round these buildings the clan 
resided, and within they retreated from danger ; many of them 
have subterraneous chambers and sally-ports : several of them are 
in good preservation. In England some antiquarians have attempt- 
ed to ascertain which of these later works belonged to the Anglo- 
Saxons, and which to the Danes. Spencer thinks the round ones are 



184- THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

Danish, the square Saxon ; but it is generally agreed that the shape 
of the ground must have determined the figure, and that circularity- 
seems to have had the preference. Spencer also informs us, that 
it was a custom amongst the Irish to hold assemblies upon a 
rath or hill, to adjust the affairs of neighbouring townships. It was 
also called Lios, or the court, from its being the place of judica- 
ture as well as the residence of the chieftain ; the word lis, as lis- 
more, lisbigny ; and leas or leix, corresponding with the Anglo- 
Saxon word leet. The rath was also called mote. As to their 
origin, the learned doctor seems to think them Danish ; on the 
contrary, Dr. Campbell says that the use of them is so obvious, 
that nature herself must have pointed it out to a people always at 
war amongst themselves, and therefore he does not think they 
ought to be attributed solely to the Danes ; and he asserts that, 
on the contrary, there is positive proof in the Lives of St. Patrick, 
that these mounds were thrown up in Ireland some centuries 
before the Danes set foot in it ; for Down Patrick was originally 
called Bath Keltair^ munimentum Keltarii filii Duachi, and that 
it obtained its present name from being the burying-place of the 
Irish Apostle. 

Dr. Ledwich also mentions two other kinds of forts : the first 
called the dun or din, which means a high fort or rock, and the 
other daigean, expressive of a close, fast place ; and after a fort, 
this was the primitive Celtic fortification, made by digging a ditch, 
throwing up a rampart, and on the latter fixing stakes, interlaced 
with boughs of trees ; this interlacing was called plashing, from 
the Franco-gallic, plesser, to intwine. All these fortifications were 
the only places of defence amongst the Irish, antecedent to the 
Norman invasion, in 1169. The ruins of the raths are in many 
places held superstitiously sacred by the common Irish, on 
account of their being considered to be the favourite haunts of 
fairies. Upon these, as well as on many of the castles which I saw, 
time had exercised his powers. The wish of the following beauti- 
ful lines from Dodsley's Collection of Poems, seems nearly 
realized* 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 185 

On shatter'd walls may creeping- ivy twine, 
And grass luxuriant clothe the harmless mine, 
Tame flocks ascend the breach without a <wou?id, 
Or crop the bastion, now a fruitful ground; 
Whilst shepherds sleep, along the ramparts laid, 
Or pipe beneath the formidable shade. 

At the foot of the rath at Naas there are the -remains of a 
house for hermits of the order of St. Augustin, founded in 1484, 
and in the centre of the town a monastery for Dominican friars, 
dedicated to St. Eustachius, was erected. A desperate battle was 
fought in this town between the regulars, assisted by the yeoman- 
ry, and the rebels in 1798: roofless and half-demolished houses 
display the gloomy effect of that civil war. 

I was highly gratified with passing nearly two miles in the 
celebrated curragh of Kildare, the Newmarket of Ireland. This 
beautiful common, or rather undulating lawn, is covered with soft 
turf of the richest verdure, and contains nearly five thousand 
English acres; it lies high, and the soil is a fine dry loam on a 
gravelly bottom : the occupiers of adjoining lands have the exclu- 
sive right of pasturing sheep upon it, and the flocks which fatten 
there increase the richness of its appearance. It once formed the 
centre of a vast ancient forest of oaks, Kildare or Chilledair signi- 
fying the wood of oaks, and was sacred to heathen superstition ; it 
has a ranger. At the races, which are held there annually in the 
months of April, June, September, and October, king's-plates are 
run for by Irish-bred horses, for the purpose of improving the 
native breed. The Irish horses are not remarkable for their beau- 
ty : they make good hacks. In various parts of Ireland mules are 
thought to be superior to horses for back loads, and are preferred. 
The former are so long-lived, that when they are purchased the 
age is seldom asked ; they will live in constant work for thirty- 
years. 

I cannot help gratifying my reader, in this stage of our tour, 
with the result of an anxious and active inquiry which I made of 
the existence of a custom in some parts of Ireland, equally cruel 
and impolitic. Mr. Young, with perfect accuracy at the time when 

2A 



186 THE STRANGER IN IRELANEF. 

he wrote, viz. in 1780, states that all over the -county of Cavaft 
the peasants very commonly ploughed and harrowed with their 
horses drawing by the tail ! and that they insisted on it that horses, 
tired in traces, would become quite fresh again if they worked 
by the tail. It reminds one of the farmer in England sewing 
up the jaws of a ferret, previous to sending him upon his duty, 
with a large darning needle, and upon some one remonstrating 
with him against the barbarity of the act, he replied, ." Why 
" domen, mon, her likes it, her be used to it." It is with real 
pleasure that I have it in my power, upon the authority of several 
gentlemen of great respectability, residing in various parts of Ire- 
land, to state, that at this day the custom of ploughing and har- 
rowing by the horse's tail does not exist. Long since it shocked 
the humanity and excited the interference of the legislature ; for 
I find that in the year 1634, when Lord Strafford was Lord 
Deputy, an act was passed against this cruel usage. 

In a direction nearly east and west on the long ridge of the 
curragh, there is a chain of fourteen circular intrenchments of 
different diameters, terminated on the east by an earthen tumulus, 
and on the west by a large circular rath, near which is a small 
circular mound, with a cavity on the top, supposed to have been 
a cuci or kitchen of some of the ancient inhabitants. These in- 
trenchments are called in the Irish language farranta foras, or 
ancient graves, and hence, as well as on account of their being too 
small for forts, they are considered to be tombs of the ancient 
Irish. 

After a long conversation about these tumuli, an intelligent 
fellow-traveller, who seemed to be well acquainted with the genu- 
ine character of the low Irish, turned the conversation to a sub- 
ject which I have several times before felt great pleasure in ad- 
verting to, viz. the felicity of their native wit, and related the 
following anecdote : In Dublin there are several little stands of 
shoe-blacks, where there is as much whim and pleasantry, though 
not so much style and accommodation exhibited, as amongst their 
brethren in the Palais Royal, at Paris. One day an Englishman 
having availed himself of the convenience of one of these stalls in 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 187 

Dublin, paid his little shoe-black with a considerable degree of 
haughtiness, upon which the young dirty urchin said, when his 
customer had proceeded a little way from his stall : " By my 
il shoul 1 all the fiolish you have is upon your boots, and I gave it 
" you." 

We stopped at Kildare, the capital of the county of that name; 
it is pleasantly situated on a rising ground. This place is celebra- 
ted for a nunnery, which was founded by the immaculate St. Bri- 
gid, one of the heathen vestals whom I have before men- 
tioned, and who was born in 453, and at the age of fourteen 
received the veil from the hands of St. Patrick, or as tradition, 
with a wise want of precision, says, from one of her disciples. 
This nunnery was founded in 584, when that spotless lady was 
converted to the christian faith: and about the same time an 
abbey for monks was founded under the same roof, but separated 
from the nunnery by walls. This illustrious " Nun of Winters 
•" Sisterhood" presided both over the nuns and monks, without 
one taint from the pestiferous breath of scandal, and after her 
death, which is said to have happened in 523, the abbot for seve- 
ral years.was under the petticoat government of the abbess of this 
house, the superintendence of which afterwards devolved to the 
regular canons of St. Augustin. On the 1st of February every year 
there is a festival held here in honour of St. Brigid, who, thank 
God, has left more of the spirit of modesty than celibacy to the 
ladies of Lreland. The ruins of the fire-house, part of the nunnery 
in which the nuns of St. Brigid preserved the fire called inextin- 
guishable, are said to be still visible. This virgin flame is said to 
have been kept alive for 700 years, until puffed out by Henry de 
Londres, Archbishop of Dublin, in 1220 ; but it was relighted and 
continued to burn with unabated lustre until the total suppression 
of monasteries. The garments of this immaculate lady were for 
a long period kept with religious veneration in spices- 

This place is also celebrated for the remains of several other 
religious houses, and particularly for having given birth to David 
O'Buge, who flourished in 1320, when he was provincial of the 
Cnrmelit^rder; he was so profoundly learned that he was called 



188 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

the burning light, the mirror, and the ornament of his country. 
There is a round tower here in good preservation, one hundred and 
thirty feet in height, built of white granite to about twelve feet 
above the ground, and the rest of common blue stone ; the door is 
fourteen feet from the foundation. 

Monastereven, which is thirty miles from Dublin, is a very- 
pretty town, and beautifully situated ; on the left of the entrance 
of the town is Moore Abbey, the noble seat of the marquis of 
Drogheda, standing at the foot of a lofty hill on the banks of the 
Barrow; the demesne is finely cultivated and very picturesque. 
The river and the canal which crosses the former, very much 
augment the beauty of the scenery. By means of this canal, a trade 
is opened with Athy, Carlow, Waterford and Ross, and every day 
exhibits a scene of bustle, gaiety and vivacity, by the canal -boats 
passing and repassing. Monastereven derives its name from a 
noble abbey founded by St. Abben, who bestowed upon it the 
privilege of being a sanctuary. St. Emin or Evin, in the beginning 
of the seventh century, placed a number of monks from South 
Munster in this abbey, the abbot of which sat as a baron in par- 
liament. Upon the suppression of monasteries, this abbey, through 
different channels of descent or transfer, became the property of 
the marquis of Drogheda, and it still displays, under the hoar 
of time, the marks of its former dignity. 

The next stage was to Maryborough, so called after Mary, 
Queen of England. A market was established here by the late Sir 
James Parnell, for the encouragement of the woollen yarn and 
stuff manufacture. As we approached the vast waste called the 
Bog of Allen, the conversation became influenced by the sur- 
rounding scenery, and we talked of these wonderful powers of 
nature, by which she sometimes revolutionizes her own works. 
The bog which lay before us, and which resembled at a distance' 
a vast brown lake, was once covered with the finest forest-trees, 
now buried under its dreary surface. My intelligent fellow-tra- 
veller said it reminded him of a part of one of the eloquent ser- 
mons preached by the celebrated dean Kirwan, the Massillon of 
Ireland, which had taken strong possession of his memory: 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 189 

« Every thing is liable to change," said that great devotional orator. 
" empires, kingdoms, states and provinces ; God, from the sum- 
" mit of his immutability, sports Avith all human things, and 
" wishing to show how little dependence we should place upon 
" them, has decreed that nothing here shall be permanent, but the 
" inconstancy which whirls and agitates us." 

This was the first bog I had ever seen in Ireland, and having 
fallen into the usual false notion of Englishmen who have never 
visited Ireland, that a bog was a collection of thick mud, I was at 
first surprised to see people walking upon it, and cattle here and 
there picking up a scanty blade upon this russet lawn. This cele- 
brated bog crosses several counties, and contains three hundred 
thousand acres, and is the largest in Ireland. The bogs of Ireland 
at first semed to be a subject of little interest, but as I inquired 
and reflected, I found them a source of uncommon surprise, 
curiosity and amusement. The turf-bogs of Ireland have been 
considered as masses of putrefaction and as very insalubrious, and 
like marshes and fens, uniting a mephitic deleterious vapour or 
putrid miasmata. So far from this being correct, those who reside 
in this neighbourhood are as healthy and vigorous as the natives of 
any other part of Ireland ; and Sir William Petty informs us, that 
the country people used to preserve their eggs and butter in them. 
Doctor Campbell observes, that he has seen a shoe, of one piece 
of leather, neatly stiched, taken out of a bog, where it was sup- 
posed, from its fashion, to have lain for centuries, entirely fresh. 
He also mentions, that he had seen butter called rouskin, which 
had been hid in hollowed trunks of trees so long, that it was be- 
come hard, and almost friable, yet not devoid of unctuosity, and 
that the length of time which it had been buried must have been 
great, on account of bog having grown over it ten feet. I was alsc 
informed by a gentleman upon whose veracity I could rely, that he 
saw the skeleton of a Cobler, who had been unexpectedly over- 
whelmed by a floating bog, in which, upon its being afterwards 
reclaimed, he had been discovered: that when found, he had the 
appearance of having been embalmed, and that a shoe and some 
leather, which lay by his side, were in a perfect state of pre- 
servation. 



19'0 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

How bogs have been produced is a subject which, like the 
attributable cause of most phenomena, is involved in philosophical 
conjecture. Underneath their surface, at a considerable depth, 
whole forests of prostrate trees, apparently burnt off from the 
roots are found, and the roots remain fast in the ground : and so 
antiseptic is the nature of the extraordinary mass which Covers 
them, that the finest oaks, fir, and yew, with all their branches, 
are constantly dug up in so perfect, or rather in so improved a 
condition, that they are preferred to the wood of the same sort of 
trees felled by the woodman. 

In houses of respectability, I have seen stairs and bannisters 
formed of the bog oak, which looked very beautiful. As fuel, bog- 
wood is considered a great luxury, and makes a most brilliant fire. 
In some places, by digging to a great depth, recumbent forests 
upon forests, with a layer of earth between, have been discovered, a 
sort of vegetable Herculaneum. The learned general Valiancy, in 
his Collectanea says, " That the late Mr. Evans, engineer, inform- 
" ed him, that in cuttingthe line of the Royal canal through the bog 
" of Cappagh, between Dublin and Kilcock,at the distance of twen- 
" ty-six feet, he met with fir-trees, which apparently had been plant- 
** ed in avenues.; and at this depth he found a lump of tallow, weigh- 
" ing about two hundred weight; that he sunk fourteen feet below 
u these trees in bog, and came to a hard bottom, on which were 
a oak-trees prostrated." 

In the bog of Moneia, not many miles from the bog of Allen, 
stumps of trees are visible above the surface, under which is a 
stratum of turf, to the depth of ten or fifteen feet, under which 
is another tier of prostrate trees ; beneath them another stratum 
of earth of considerable depth, below which a great number of 
stumps of trees are found standing upright, presenting a succes- 
sion of three distinct woods, one above the other. 

Philosophical investigation has not hitherto satisfactorily, ac- 
counted for the prostration of these trees, and for the appearance 
of ignition at the bottom of their trunks. The softness and embalm- 
ing nature of the bog are at variance with the idea, that such ap- 
pearances could be effected by its action. The formation of bogs 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 191 

must have been very gradual : and as they thickened, they must have 
equally embraced every object which they came in contact with, 
>o as rather to have supported than destroyed their perpendicu- 
larity. I do not speak of those still more wonderful phenomena, 
the moving bogs, which might have borne down trees in their 
progress. If the bog-trees which appear to have been burned 
down had been rarely discovered, the solution of the difficulty 
would have been easier. In Sweden I saw large tracts of fir-forests 7 
which had been cleared by the peasants, effected by making a fire 
round the bottom of the trunk of the tree, and burning it through 
instead of felling it by the axe or saw : this simple but slovenly 
process is resorted to, because thife country is nearly one vast 
forest. That Ireland, like Sweden, was once overrun with forest, 
the contents of the bogs sufficiently prove : and the discovery of 
the horns of the moose-deer amongst them, an animal which for 
ages has been extinct in Ireland, sufficiently demonstrates the 
antiquity of such a profusion of trees, which no doubt were an- 
terior to the Brehon laws, because as they inflicted severe penal- 
ties upon the person who injured his neighbour's trees, every 
sort of which they enumerated, (even the shrubs and underwood 
being protected from violation by them) they form an evidence of 
the value of timber in Ireland, which must have arisen from its 
scarcity. If the soil of Sweden were productive of bog-trees, burn- 
ed as I have described, and not removed, they might, by their 
lying thick on the ground, form an impediment to all streams and 
currents, and gather in their branches whatever rubbish such 
waters brought with them, until a vegetable mass or bog should 
be formed ; but is it not fair to suppose, that only the burned trees 
would have been covered by this vegetable accretion, and that the 
trees which had not been weakened at the roots by fire, would 
have remained perpendicular? This accretion could not have had 
any caustic quality in it; how could it burn away the tree from its 
roots, and not only spare but preserve the trunk and branches ? 
Yet in the bogs of Ireland all the trees discovered have been found 
in a horizontal position, and present the appearance of having 
been separated from their roots by fire, Had the ancient boors of 



192 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

the country thus felled them, only partial instances of such burn- 
ing would have occurred ; but the philosophical process, whatever 
it may have been, which has prostrated them with the ground, 
appears to have been uniform. I make these remarks with diffi- 
dence ; it is not always the worst property of ignorance to doubt, 
or to raise a doubt. The subject is a very interesting one, and 
highly merits investigation. No writer has yet, I believe, illustrat- 
ed the cause of the position and appearance of these trees. The 
black bog cuts like cheese, and resembles rotten wood: heath, 
sedgy grass, bog-myrtle, and rushes, grow spontaneously upon it, 
and its surface is rarely level: the depth of them is various; they 
have been perforated deeper lhat fifty feet. The bog of Allen ap- 
pears to rest upon that incomparable manure, lime-stone gravel, 
and might be easily converted into fine meadow-land, at a vast 
profit to the improver, or, as he is called in the bog language, a 
reclaimer. Inexhaustible quarries of the finest lime-stone are 
found in most parts of Ireland. 

A company of Dutch boors offered their countryman king 
William to convert this bog into a meadow, and to carry the coals 
of Killinaul by canals, which they proposed cutting through vari- 
ous parts of Ireland, provided that monarch would have permitted 
them to have been governed by the laws of Holland. 

At the bottom of many of these bogs, at a great depth, vesti- 
ges of arable land, and even wooden palisades, have been distinctly 
discovered ; and upon the summit of many of the mountains in 
the north of Ireland, which have not been inhabited, the furrow of 
the plough appears. Mr. William King, in a letter to the Dublin 
Society, says, " When O'Donnell and Tyrone came to the relief 
fC of Kinsale, they wasted the country as they came through Con- 
u naught, which by the means of the earl of Clanrickard, was 
" generally loyal ; and there is a great tract of ground, now a bog, 
" which was then ploughed land, and there stands the house of 
" my lord in the midst of it." Another proof that the ground 
under the bog was once covered with rich fields and beautiful 
woods is, that the finest and most numerous of the monastic 
remains in Ireland are mostly to be found adjoining to or in the 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 193 

neighbourhood of bogs ; and no class of people in distant times 
ever knew how to select, appreciate, create, and enjoy the good 
things of this life, better than the convlcd fraternity. 

In those bogs have been discovered many ponderous and 
beautiful ornaments of gold and silver, such as fibulae, clasps, 
buckles, bracelets, anklets, frontlets, lunettes, plates of gold, brass 
weapons, &c, many of which are of elegant workmanship, and 
give a high idea of the skill and taste of the ancient Irish. Bugle- 
horns have also been discovered, made of copper, lapped over and 
rivetted with copper nails very ingeniously. Upon being sounded 
they give aloud, distinct, wild note. 

The art of soldering does not appear to have been discovered 
when these precious remains of antiquity were first formed ; at 
least the union of the parts of those which I saw was effected by 
beating or twisting them together. 

The bog is cut with an instrument called a slane, a spade of 
about four inches broad, with a steel blade of the same breadth, 
standing at right angles with the edge of the spade : the turf is 
piled up in pyramidical heaps on the margin of the pits out of 
which they are dug, each piece being about the size and shape of 
a brick. The mode of reclaiming bogs is now very well under- 
stood ; and it is ascertained that bogs must be kept drained, other- 
wise they will relapse; it is a curious circumstance, that when they 
are once reclaimed, they are convertible to any purpose of agricul- 
ture. The bogs in Ireland are rapidly reclaiming. Nature is throw- 
ing off her covering of russet, for a robe of green or yellow. I 
saw considerable tracts of bog that had been reclaimed, and 
which appeared to be very productive. The turf, when thoroughly 
heated, makes a good fire, and is an admirable substitute for coal. 
If the spirit of cutting canals, or rather of perfecting those nume- 
rous canals which Nature, in her prodigal bounty to Ireland, has 
already nearly formed in every part of that island, was co-exten- 
sive with that of reclaiming the bogs, the manufacturers would 
not suffer for want of fuel, as coal might be easily and cheaply 
conveyed; and upon those bogs plantations might be made, and 
Ireland might once more boast of her forests of stately oak. 

2B 



194 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

In Ulster and the county of Donnegal, also along Lougl>Earn ? 
in the county of Fermanagh, and in the north part of the Tyrone, 
there are considerable forests; and the county of Wicklow, 
King's-county, and Queen's-county, abound with wood; and so 
do parts of the counties of Wexford and Carlow : but the greater 
part of Ireland is bare of wood. Upon an American landing at 
Belfast, and observing how denuded and treeless the country was, 
he exclaimed: " Heavens, what an imfiroved country is this I" 
His notions of improvement were derived from his own native 
land, which is considered to be improved in proportion as its 
woods are cleared. The woods of Ireland once abounded with 
wolves, which were hunted by a peculiar breed of dogs, now nearly 
extinct, called after their own name. 

Those whose employment it is to bore for bog-wood, discover 
the spot under which it lies by the dew resting upon the surface of 
it, which is absorbed in other places. The following letter, giving 
an account of a moving bog, will, I think, interest the reader. " On 
" the 7th day of June, 1697, near Charleville, in the county of 
" Limerick, a great rumbling or noise was heard in the earth, 
" much like unto the sound of thunder near spent; for a little 
" space, the air was somewhat troubled with little whisking winds, 
" seeming to meet contrary ways. Soon after that, to the great 
" terror and affrightment of a great number of spectators, a more 
" wonderful thing happened ; for, in a bog stretching north and 
" south, the earth began to move, viz. meadow and pasture-land 
" that lay on the side of the bog, and separated by an extraordinary 
" large ditch, and other land on the other side adjoining to it, and 
" a rising or little hill in the middle of the bog hereupon sunk flat. 
" This motion began about seven o'clock in the evening, fluctuat- 
" ing in its motion like waves ; the pasture-land rising very high, 
" so that it overrun the ground beneath it, and moved upon its 
" surface, rolling on with great pushing violence till it covered the 
" meadow, and is held to remain upon it sixteen feet deep. In the 
« motion of this earth, it drew after it the body of the bog, part 
"of it laying on the place where the pasture-land that moved 
" out of its place had before stood, leaving great breaches behind 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 195 

* it, and spewings of water that cast up noisome vapours." Dr. 
Ledwich informs me, that he saw a similar phenomenon at Gur- 
teenamallagh, in the Queen's-county, where the bog, for a few 
acres, left the substratum, a white marl, totally bare ; for it ap- 
peared that neither the roots of heath, nor the bayberry -bushes 
which covered the bog, had penetrated the marl so as to impede 
or stop the floating. 

The cause of this phenomenon is supposed to have been the 
rising of the springs after much wet, a sort of bog-dropsy. The 
purchase of bogs for the purpose of reclaiming them, presents 
such an opportunity of employing money to an uncommon advan- 
tage, that I should not be surprised if, in no very distant period, 
a bog were a greater rarity in Ireland than in England. 

Between Maryborough and Roscrea, at a great distance, the 
Sliew-bloom mountains, from whence the river Barrow takes its 
rise, were pointed out to me. In these mountains, which are cele- 
brated by Spenser, there are many beautiful valleys, and a vast an- 
cient pyramidal monument of stones, called Copeall-ban, or the 
Whitehorse. About two or three miles before we reached Roscrea, 
the singular ruins of the Abbey of Monanicha were pointed out to 
us : they are situated almost in the centre of the before mentioned 
bog of Monela, on an island of ubout three acres, inaccessible by 
horse or carriage, and even by foot passengers, for the greater 
part of the year. These ruins belonged to an ancient monastery of 
Culdean monks, founded under the patronage of St. Columbee in 
the seventh century, and consist of two chapels and a priory church, 
with the abbot's apartments adjoining. In the island are the traces 
of an orchard and fish-pond. The abbey-church, I was informed, 
for I only saw it at a distance, is of Saxon architecture; small but 
elegant. 

I was much gratified with Roscrea, which stands in the county 
of Tipperary, on the borders of the King's-county. The antiqua- 
rian will find much source of gratification in the remains of the 
piety and military enterprise of distant times to be found in this 
town and neighbourhood. There is also to the north-west of this 
place a round tower fifteen feet in diameter. 



196 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

The country in this neighbourhood is flat, and rather poor, 
owing to the floods which it is subject to: hay is frequently cut 
for the first time in October; it is good for black cattle A chain 
of ancient square watch-towers within sight of each other, for 
many miles in this part of the country, occasionally diverts the eye 
from the numerous wretched cabins which appear along the road. 
In one of them which I saw erected in a ditch, resided a beautiful 
woman, wno had all the deportment of one of a superior order, 
and two remarkably handsome and healthy children. They were 
dressed very neatly, although they came out of a hut of mud and 
weeds, and filled with smoke. They attract the attention of almost 
every traveller on that road, who, pleased with their appearance, 
generally leaves some little token of their approbation behind. The 
poor woman was a Widow : she was travelling in this country with 
her little son and daughter, when a fever attacked her; exhaustec 
by its*ravages, by hunger, and fatigue, she sunk on the road. The 
miserable cottagers in the neighbourhood immediately built her a 
cabin, placed clean straw in it, and daily supplied her and her chil- 
dren with milk and potatoes. She recovered; though frequently 
pressed, she has constantly declined to relate her history, and now 
works for the neighbouring gentry. 

The road from Roscrea to the neighbourhood of Limerick is 
dreary, presenting little more than partial patches of fertility and 
bog. I saw all the specimens of the latter, black, white, and red. 
A short way before we reached Limerick, a small island of the 
richest verdure, resembling an emerald, seated in the heart of a 
vast brown bog, attracted my attention : the appearance was very 
singular. The whole of this gloomy country, however, exhibits a 
strong spirit for improvement, and much bog-land has been re- 
claimed in it. A few miles from Newport the scenery became 
very much improved, and enlivened by elegant villas. „ 

As^ve proceeded about five miles from Limerick, Castleconnell 
was pointed out to me, famous for its chalybeate spa, and the ro- 
mantic beauty of its scenery, through which the boast of Ireland, 
the sovereign of her rivers, the Shannon, rolls majestically along. 
This place, which is a collection of numerous genteel lodging- 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 197 

houses, detached from each other, is much resorted to in the sum- 
mer by invalids suffering from obstructions of the liver and bilious 
affections, and by those who wish to enjoy some of the finest dis- 
plays of nature. 

Mount Shannon, within two miles of Limerick, on the right, 
the seat of the late lord chancellor Clare, who was justly 
celebrated for his accuteness and eloquence, is equally superb 
and beautiful. The plantations have been formed with uncommon 
taste from his lordship's designs, and the situation is only sur- 
passed in Ireland by Powerscourt, the seat of lord viscount 
Powerscourt. Just before we entered the city, we passed a fine 
meadow which belonged to a person who was obnoxious to the re- 
bels, and which, in consequence, was in one night, during the 
rebellion, completely turned up. The officer on guard, hearing of 
the circumstance on the next day, which was Sunday, surrounded 
the catholic chapel with a military force, ordered every one ©f the 
men within to come out, marched them down to the field, and 
forced them to replace every sod. The novelty of the punishment 
produced a mixture of humour and seriousness on both sides. 

The road from Dublin to Limerick is remarkably broad and 
fine. In proceeding to the Mail Hotel, we passed through several 
fine streets, and by several quays, lined with elegant brick houses 
and handsome shops, which have been erected very recently. The 
bustle of trade was in every quarter, and its prosperity displayed 
itself in a variety of instances. The most beautiful streets, which 
comprise a great part of the city called Newton-perry, have been 
erected within these very few years, are spaciously laid out, and 
were enlivened by several handsome and well dressed women. The 
ancient city consisted of two divisions, the English-town and the 
Irish-town, connected by a bridge called BaaPs-bridge, which cros- 
ses an^irm of the Shannon: that river greatly adds to the beauty 
as well as tne opulence of the place: both these towns were for- 
merly fortified against each other, or against the common foe. 
The houses here are lofty and crowded, the streets narrow and 
dirty, ana much resemble those of Rouen in Upper Normandy. 
The modern part of the city contains an assembly-room, the 



198 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

principal docks to which vessels of five hundred tons burden can 
come up and discharge their cargoes, a handsome custom-house, 
and a spacious comercial coffee-house, like that of Dublin, which 
was not quite finished. The Limerick gloves, so much celebrated, 
are manufactured here ; and it was whispered to me that Limerick 
gloves are manufactured in Dublin also. 

A stranger, however respectable, is not admitted to read the 
newspapers in the subscription rooms here : I presume a native 
of some other country than Ireland legislated for this society. The 
civil government is invested in a mayor, sheriffs, recorder and 
town -clerk; and the city is the see of a bishop, united to AroV 
fert and Aghaloe. From the tower of its Gothic cathedral, a 
venerable pile, originally built by Donacht O'Brien, in the year 
1207, king of Limerick, and since frequently repaired, I sur- 
veyed the beautiful scene which lay before me. Below, on my 
right, lay the city, partially veiled with smoke, with its diminutive 
carriages, cars, horses, and inhabitants, in constant motion, and 
sending up to my ears the ceaseless clink of hammers repairing 
vessels, mingled with the confused hum of men, and the Shannon, 
broad, shallow, broken into little falls, flowing to the sea, from 
which at this place it is sixty miles distant, which, after winding 
through a rich - expanded country, vanishes in the mist of the 
horizon: and, on my left, were the ivied towers of the ancient 
castle, and the barracks; a hoary bridge crossing the river, which 
beautifully flowed along its opposite suburbs, and after passing by 
a line of vast mountains, eluded the eye as it curved round some 
distant meadows, variegated by partial clumps of trees. 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 199 



CHAPTER XIV. 

THOMOND'S BRIDGE PROVISION-TRADE HOUSE OF INDUSTRY 

SHOCKING SPECTACLE GROUP OF MADMEN LORD CHANCEL- 
LOR ERSKINE BRIEF HISTORY OF LIMERICK THE SHANNON . 

THE ANTIQUARY GROSE AND THE IRISH BUTCHER IRISH 

LANGUAGE ITS SWEETNESS THE CELEBRATED FLOOD-— DOC- 
TOR JOHNSON IRISH AND CARTHAGINIAN LANGUAGES CAR- 
THAGINIAN SWORDS. 

IN the cathedral I saw nothing worthy of notice. The 
bridge I last mentioned is called Thomond's, and unites the coun- 
ties of Limerick and Clare; it is quite flat, and every arch in it is 
dissimilar from the other. Its antiquity is such, that it is said to 
have been built for thirty pounds. Limerick exports pork, butter, 
beef, hides, and rape-seed ; and imports sugar, rum, timber, wines, 
coals, tobacco, salt, and bark. Its trade has flourished to an amaz- 
ing extent. Many of the families here are very opulent, and hand- 
some equipages are to be seen in the streets, whereas in the years 
1 740 and 1750, there were only four carriages in and near the place. 
The slaughtering, salting and packing houses, belonging to 
the provision-trade, are well worthy the notice of the traveller. 
The most frequent objects to be met with in the streets, are cars 
laden with beef proceeding to the salting-houses. Much of that 
provision supports the brave seamen of the united kingdom, and 
enables them to endure the fatigue of the blockade and the peril 
of the battle. Although Ireland cannot build a navy, she furnishes 
it with a brave, hardy, gallant, and loyal race of men, and contri- 
butes not a little to the sustenance of the British fleets. The inns 
have not kept equal pace with the prosperity of the town : they 
are dirty and ill attended, but as usual furnish excellent wine at 
four shillings per bottle : we also partook of some excellent cow- 
beef. I wish I could object to nothing more than the inconvenience 



200 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND, 

of ill-conducted inns; but alas! a subject of much deeper interest, 
and truly afflicting to every feeling mind, is to be found, if the 
traveller will take the trouble of walking over Thomond's bridge 
and enter the house of Industry* as it is called. He will quit a 
noble city, gay with novel opulence and luxury, for a scene which 
will strike his mind with horror. Under the roof of this house, I saw 
madmen stark naked girded only by their irons, standing in the 
rain, in an open court, attended by women, their cells upon the 
ground-floor, scantily supplied with straw, damp, and ill-secured. 
In the wards of labour, abandoned prostitutes, in rags and vermin, 
each loaded with a long chain and heavy log, working only when 
the eye of the superintending officer was upon them, are associated 
throughout the day with respectable old female housekeepers, 
who, having no children to support them, to prevent famishing, 
seek this wretched asylum. At night, they sleep together in the 
same room; the sick (unless in very extreme cases) and the 
healthy, the good and the bad, all crouded together. In the vene- 
real ward, the wretched female sufferers were imploring for a 
little more covering, whilst several idiots, squatted in corners, 
half naked, half famished, pale and hollow-eyed, with a ghastly 
grin, bent a vacant stare upon the loathsome scene, and consum- 
mated its horror. Fronting this ward, across a yard, in a large 
room, nearly thirty feet long, a raving maniac, instead of being 
strapped to his bed, was handcuffed to a stone of SOOlbs. weight, 
which, with the most horrible yells, by a convulsive effort of 
strength, he dragged from one end of the room to the other, con- 
stantly exposed to the exasperating view and conversation of those 
who were in the yard. I have been well informed that large sums 
of money have been raised in every county for the erection o f 
mad-houses : how has this money been applied ? 

The building of this lazar-gaol is so insecure, that the prosti- 
tutes confined in it, although ironed and logged, frequently make 
their escape. No clothing is allowed to these poor wretches but 
what they bring into the prison, or can earn, or beg. Upon in- 
quiry I found, what I need scarcely relate to my reader, that the 
funds are very inadequate, that it is supported by presentments 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 201 

and charity, and very seldom visited by those whom official duty, 
if not common humanity, ought to have conducted there. The 
number of miserable wretches in this house amounted to one 
hundred and thirty -eight. The governor appeared to be a humane 
man, and seemed deeply to regret what he could not conceal. 

One of the naked subjects Avhich I mentioned, lost his senses 
by an excess of mathematical research, the other by a disappoint- 
ment of the heart, and the third, who was in the same yard, by 
drunkenness: a more affecting and expressive group for the 
pencil, could never be presented. In one cell, covered to his chin 
in straw, lay a hoary -headed man, who would never speak, nor take 
any thing unless conjured to do so by the name of " the Most 
High.'* 

It is a matter worthy of remark, that as reason begins to 
resume her empire over the chaos of the mind, the unhappy in- 
valid becomes attached to those who have had the charge of him 
during his insanity, if their conduct has been humane. I was 
upon the point of adverting to the frequently inadequate allowance 
made to lunatics who are under the care of committees of lunacy, 
when my eye glanced upon an equity report in a newspaper, 
lying by my side, in which I read, with the delight which I am 
sure must pervade every bosom, the remarks which fell from the 
lord chancellor Erskine, upon the case, of an unhappy lunatic 
that came before him. That wonderful man, whose transcendant 
genius is equal to every situation, however splendid and important, 
and before which no complication of business, however entangled 
and profound, is difficult, declared from the high seat of that 
equity which he dispenses with consummate wisdom and unex- 
ampled promptitude and purity, that to the lunatic he would be a 
vigilant trustee ; that as madness was an intermitting malady, fre- 
quently susceptible of moderation and cure, he would carefully 
look into the property of the sufferer ; and that instead of his 
allowance being as hitherto a scanty one, for the benefit of the 
remainder man, it should be a liberal one, and that the unfortu- 
nate sufferer should have all of his own, that could conduce to the 

2 C 



202 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

restoration of his health, and all that the state of his mind could 
permit him to enjoy. 

It was a melancholy contrast to compare this gloomy abode 
of mingled want, disease, vice, and malady, with the new-arisen 
splendour that reigned on the opposite side of the river. I am far 
from thinking that the love of wealth has indurated the feelings of 
the inhabitants of Limerick, but I fear in the anxious pursuit of it 
they have forgotten that great precept of religion by which the divine 
Author of mercy so forcibly prompts us to pity and cherish each 
other, if we hereafter expect to find favour in his sight. I have 
not the vanity to conclude, that the page which I am now writ- 
ing will ever reach the place upon which I write, but it may per- 
haps arrest the eye of some one who possesses the influence I have 
not. Want of health has sometimes made a wanderer of me ; but 
wherever I have roamed, I have never flinched from the perilous 
duty of investigating the public abodes of vice and misery. A 
power of comparing has, in some instances, enabled me to offer 
suggestions, which in their consequences have blessed me with 
the pleasure of having alleviated some portion of suffering. In no 
part of the continent, of England or of Ireland, have I witnessed 
such a scene as that which I have mentioned, and with which I 
will wound my reader no more, but trusting to the unextinguish- 
able feelings of humanity, will ardently hope, that at a future period 
the traveller will be spared the pain of contemplating such an 
object. 

Limerick is enrolled in the page of English history. In the 
time of Cromwell it was besieged by Ireton, who was repulsed in 
several attacks. After displaying great spirit and gallantry, the 
citizens became disunited on account of their different political 
attachments, some being followers of the Pope's nuncio, some to 
king Charles, and others to the English army, till at last they 
surrendered to the enemy, when Ireton entered the town, and 
soon afterwards died there. In September 1 69 1 , it was invested by 
Gen. G inkle, after his victory over king James's army at Aghrin^ 
and was surrendered on the 1 5th of October following, when, the 






THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 203 

garrison made a very honourable capitulation for themselves and 
the rest of the inhabitants; and in 1690 it was besieged by king 
William, when he was forced to raise the siege. 

The Shannon, to which I again recur with uncommon delight, 
as the majestic Thames of Ireland, derives it source like genius, 
expanding from a humble origin : from a spring amongst the 
mountains near Swanling-bar, in the county of Fermanagh, whence 
it spreads into a beautiful sheet of water, called Lough Allen, in 
the county of Leitrim, which lough is eight or nine miles in 
length, and four or five in breadth; it then pursues its course 
through Lough Ree, in the counties of Roscommon and Longford, 
a lake of about fifteen miles long, and finely diversified with up- 
wards of sixty islands, and thence to Lough Derg, in the counties 
of Galway and Tipperary, which is larger that the last lough, 
and which is adorned with upwards of fifty islands, the largest of 
which, called Ilanmore, contains above one hundred acres of rich 
land ; and on another, called Holy Island, are the ruins of seven 
churches, and a lofty round tower ; flowing to Limerick, it rolLs 
on to the Atlantic ocean, expanded into a sea. Spenser has cele- 
brated this noble river as Denham has the Thames. 

Above Limerick, the Shannon, and the lakes of its creation, 
are navigable with boats for several miles. During a course of 
one hundred and ninety-one miles, its descent from its source is 
not less than one hundred and fifty-one feet. In the lakes and river 
a species of trout, called gilderoy, is caught, remarkable for hav- 
ing a gizzard like that of fowls. In Limerick there is a spacious 
new gaol, well designed and executed, combining the great objects 
of such a melancholy, but necessary establishment, health and 
security : there are also barracks for about five thousand men. 

The theatre is small, and by no means suitable to the opulence 
and population of the place. The market-place, uniting the butch- 
ers, green-grocers, and fishmongers, is admirably arranged. I have 
given several instances of the native wit of different descriptions of 
the low Irish, but I have not mentioned any sprightly idea as 
emanating from a class of men, more remarkable in general for 
their jolly aspect than their wit: I mean those important person- 



204 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

ages who have precedence in all markets, viz. the butchers. My 
reader will see that in Ireland even these people have humour. 

The celebrated antiquarian Grose, when he was in that country, 
was uncommonly delighted with the wit and humour of the low 
Irish, and thought that in Dublin he should be able to collect many 
amusing materials for a slang dictionary : with this view, he walk- 
ed through the principal markets of that city, listening with great 
attention to the various dialogues of the people at the different 
stalls. His large unwieldy figure, and particularly his prominent 
belly, struck a butcher, who happened to be unemployed, and 
who advancing from his stall with his hat most respectfully in his 
hand, accosted the ponderous antiquarian, by saying, " Sir, I have 
" a favour to beg of you, and I hope you will not be offended at 
" the liberty I am about to take." " By no means," said Grose, 
" let me hear your wishes." " Sir," replied the fellow, " the 
" favour I have to beg is this — when your friends ask you of whom 
i( your honour buys your beef, say that it is of me." 

Upon Thomond's bridge, for the first time since I had been in 
Ireland, I heard beggars imploring alms, and peasants convers- 
ing in the Irish language. Some words sound very sweet, and 
I think my reader will not object to pause a little, previous to our 
setting off for the lakes of Killarney, to take a brief review of 
the language. 

It is remarkable for the varieties of its powers: it is affecting, 
sweet, dignified, energetic, and sublime; and so forcibly ex- 
pressive, that the translation of one compound epithet would fill 
two lines of English verse. The number of synonima with which 
it abounds, prevents the ear from being satiated by a repetition of 
the same word. It has upwards of forty names to express a ship, 
and nearly an equal number for a house. 

In the county of Meath, which borders upon the metropolis, it 
has been said that a justice of the peace must understand Irish, or 
keep an interpreter. In the north-west and south-west counties, 
the English language is scarcely known: the low Irish who 
understand English and Irish, have a proverbial saying, " When 
you plead for your life, plead in Irish." In the county of Wexford 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 205 

English customs and habits prevail universally, and the Irish lan- 
guage is quite forgotten. 

At Limerick I heard one peasant address another, by saying, 
" Connas ta tu," how are you ? I am told that the same salutation in 
Italian is u Come stai?" The following words will give a little 
specimen of the Irish language. 

Heaven, ceal. A fever, fiabras. 

An angel, aingeal. A rose, rosa. 

The devil, diabal. A cottage, caban. 

The sun, sol. A cow, bo. 

The moon, luan. A Nightingale, rosin-ceol. 

A pint, pinta. 

The celebrated senator Henry Flood bequeathed all his pro- 
perty, after the decease of his wife lady Frances Flood, to the 
university of Dublin; amongst other objects, to institute and 
maintain a professorship of the native Irish or Erse language, and 
to grant an annual premium for compositions in prose or verse 
in that language, upon some point of ancient history, government^ 
religion, literature, or situation of Ireland. 

The proposed advantages of this patriotic bequest, are likely 
to vanish into " thin air," in consequence, as I am informed, of 
its having been legally ascertained that Mr. Flood had no right to 
dispose of the property, which he had destined for the support of 
this project. 

The great Dr. Johnson, in a letter to Charles O'Conner, Esq. 
strongly recommends the cultivation of Irish literature, observing, 
" I have long wished that the Irish literature were cultivated. 
" Ireland is known, by tradition, to have been once the seat of piety 
" and learning ; and surely it would be very acceptable to all 
" those who are curious, either in the original of nations, or the 
" affinities of languages, to be further informed of the revolutions 
u of a people so ancient, and once so illustrious." 

Sir Laurence Parsons, in his learned and elegant Defence of 
the Ancient History of Ireland, observes, that at an early period 



206 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND, 

of the world, the Phoenicians made a settlement in Ireland, and 
immediately, or by degrees, completely subjugated the ancient 
inhabitants, and established m the island their laws, religion, and 
language : this elegant writer supports his hypothesis, by observ- 
ing, that the Carthaginians originally came from Phoenicia, and 
spoke the Pncenician language; that a specimen of that language 
has been preserved by Plautus in one of his plays, which contains 
some speeches of Hanno, a Carthaginian, in the language of his 
country, which, he observes, appears upon examination to be the 
same language as the Irish, with some obvious allowances for the 
operation of time and corruption. 

I shall now give the beginning of Hanno's speech, precisely 
letter for letter, as it is in the edition of Plautus, published a. d. 
1482, together with colonel Vallancey's collation of the same 
speech with the Irish. The first line of every triplet contains the 
letters, with their collocation and intervals, precisely as they are 
printed in the above edition of Plautus ; the second line expresses 
them with sucii intervals as colonel Vallancey thinks they ought 
to be placed at ; and the third line shows the words in Irish, ac- 
cording to the Irish orthography and collocation. 

" Hanno, a Carthaginian, had two daughters, who, with their 
" nurse, were carried off by robbers, -and sold to a person, who 
" brought them to Calydon in JEtolia ; having long travelled in 
" quest of them, he at last arrives where they are, and makes the 
( ' c following speech. 

1. 

Carthaginian, as in Plautus. 

u Nythalonim ualon uth si corathissima comsyth. 

With firofier intervals. 

" Nyth al o nim ua lonuth sicorathissi ma com syth 

Irish. 

a O all nimh n'iath, lonnaith uath! so cruidhse me com sith 

* O mighty Deity of this country, powerful, terrible ! quiet 

< me with rest. # 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 207 

2. 

Carthaginian, as in Plautus. 

<< Chim lach chunyth mumys tyal mycthibarii imischi. 

Proper intervals. 

'.< Chim lach chunyth mum ys tyal mycthiibarii imi schi. 

Irish. 

" Chuinigh lach chimithe ; is toil muini beiridh miocht iar 

mi schith. 

f< Support of weak captives ; be thy will to instruct me to 

obtain my children after my fatigue. 

3. 

Carthaginian, as in Plautus. 

" Lipho canet hyth bymithii ad sedin binuthii. 

Proper intervals. 

u Lipho can etyth by mithii ad sedin binuthii. 

Irish. 

" Can ati liomtha mitche be beannaithe ad eaden. 

" Let it come to pass, that my earnest prayers be blessed 

before thee. 

4. 

Carthaginian, as in Plautus. 

* Byrnarob syllo homalonim uby misyrtholo. 

Proper intervals. 

* Byr nar ob syllo homal O nim ! ubymis yrthoho, 

Irish. 

« Bier nar ob siladh umhal ; O Nim ! ibhim a frotha. 

V A fountain denied not to drop to the humble ; O Deity, that 

I may drink of its streams. 

5. 

Carthaginian, as in Plautus. 

" Bythlym mothym noctothii nelechanti diasmachon- 

Proper intervals. 

« Byth lym ! mo thym nocto thii nel ech anti dias machon-. 



208 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

Irish. 

11 Beith Horn ! mo thime noctaithe niel ach anti daisie macoiune. 

" Be with me ! my fears being disclosed, I have no other intention 

but recovering my daughter." 

There is also 1 a memorable remark of the general, when he is 
informed that his daughter has been found in the Temple of 
Venus, in which there is not the difference of a single letter be- 
tween the Punic and Irish sentence. " Handone silli hanum bene 
" silli in?nustine" In English: " When Venus grants a favour, it 
" is generally attended by some misfortune." 

In further corroboration, the discovery of Carthaginian swords 
in the bogs of Ireland, has been adduced. Lieutenant Gen. Camp- 
bell is in possession of one of the swords found near Armagh ; 
it is made of brass, about twenty inches long, two inches broad, 
having small holes in the handle, supposed to have been perforated 
for the purpose of admitting thongs to be fastened to them ; 
which size and marks correspond precisely with the swords 
discovered on the plains of Cannae, as I have been informed by an 
intelligent friend, who had an opportunity of comparing the 
former with the latter, which he saw in several of the museums 
in Italy. The facts are curious, and the deductions are at least 
ingenious. Learned men have supported and denied the Car- 
thaginian origin of the Irish : and as I have not the smallest frag- 
ment of antiquarian armour to buckle on me, it would be 
infatuation to engage in this Punic war. 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 209 



CHAPTER XV, 

LYRIC QUALITY OF IRISH LANGUAGE EXTRACTS FROM ANCIENT 

IRISH BARDS PATRICK LINDEN FITZGERALD o'GERAN. 

1 HE Irish language is remarkable for flowing off in 
vowels upon the ear, and for the smoothness and harmony of its 
cadences, and is finely adapted to lyric poetry. I have made the 
following extracts from some beautiful poems of the ancient Irish 
poets, as a favourable specimen of their genius ; all except one of 
them are contained in a book, which is now very scarce, Miss 
Brook's Reliques of Irish Poetry. 

SONG 

BY PATRICK LINDEN. 

Oh ! fairer than the mountain snow, 
When o'er it North's pure breezes blow ! 
In all its dazzling lustre drest, 
But purer, softer is thy breast ! 

With softened fire imperial blood 

Pours through thy frame its generous flood, 

Rich in thy azure veins it flows, 

Bright in thy blushing cheek it glows ! 

See how the swan presumptuous strives, 

Where glowing majesty revives, 
With proud contention to bespeak 
The soft dominion of that cheek ! 

Beneath it, sure, with subtle heed, 
Some rose by stealth its leaf convey'dj 
To shed its bright and beauteous dye, 
And still the varying- bloom supply. 

2 D 



210 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND 

The tresses of thy silken hair, 
As curling mists are soft and fair; 
Bright waving o'er thy graceful neck, 
Its pure and tender snow to deck! 

How does thy needle's art pourtray 
Each pictur'd form, in bright array! 
With nature's self maintaining strife, 
It gives its own creation life. 



Pulse of my heart! dear source of care, 
Stolen sighs, and love-breath'd vows! 

Sweeter than when, through scented air. 
Gay bloom the apple -boughs! 

With thee no days can winter seem, 
Nor frost nor blast can chill; 
hou the soft breeze, the c 
That keep it summer still. 



SONG. 

THE MAID OF THE VALLEY 

Have you not seen the charmer of the vale, 
Nor heard her praise, in love's fond accents dresti 

Nor how that love has turn'd my youth so pale? 
Nor haw those graces rob my soul of rest? 






That slender brow! that hand so dazzling fair, 
No silk its. hue or softness can express! 

No feather'd songsters can their down compare, 
With half the beauty those dear hands possess. 

Of Beauty's garden, Oh! thou fairest flow'r, 
Accept my vows, and truth for treasure take! 

Oh! deign to share with me Love's blissful pow'r, 
Nor constant faith for fleeting wealth forsake' 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 211 

ODE, BY FITZGERALD. 

WRITTEN BY AN IRISH POET IN THE REIGN OF ELIZABETH* 
ON HIS SETTING OUT ON A VOYAGE TO SPAIN. 

Bless my good ship, protecting pow'r of grace! 
And o'er the winds, the waves, the destin'd coast, 
Breathe benign Spirit! Let thy radiant host 

Spread their angelic shields! 
Before us, the bright bulwark let them place, 
And fly before us, through their azure fields! 

O calm the voice of winter's storm! 
Rule the wrath of angry seas, 
The fury of the rending blast appease, 

Nor let its rage fair Ocean's face deform* 

check the biting wind of spring, 
And from before our course, 

Arrest the fury of its wing, 
And terrors of its force! 
So may we safely pass the dang'rous cape, 
And from the perils of the deep escape! 

1 grieve to leave the splendid seats 
Of Teamor's ancient fame! 

Mansion of heroes, now farewel! 
Adieu ye sweet retreats, 
Where the fam'd hunters of your ancient vale, 
Who swell'd the high heroic tale, 

Were wont of old to dwell: 
And you, bright tribes of siinv.y strexrtis, adieu ! 
While my sad feet their mournful path pursue, 
Ah, well their lingering steps my grieving soul proclaim! 

Receive me now, my ship! hoist now thy sails, 

To catch the favouring gales. 
O Heaven! before thine awful throne I bend! 
O let thy power thy servant now protect! 
Increase of knowledge and of wisdom lend, 
Our course through ev'ry peril to direct; 

To steer us safe through ocean's rage, * 

Where angry storms their dreadful strife maintain; 

O may thy pow'r their wrath assuage! 
May smiling suns, and gentle breeze* r*jgn! 



212 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND 

Stout is my well-built ship, the storm to brave, 
Majestic in its might, 

Her bulk, tremendous on the wave, 
Erects its stately height! 

From her strong bottom, tall in air 

Her branching masts aspiring rise; 
Aloft their cords, and curling heads they bear, 
And give their sheeted ensigns to the skies; 
While her proud bulk frowns awful on the main, 
And seems the fortress of the liquid plain! 

Dreadful in the shock of fight, 

She goes, — she cleaves the storm! 
Where ruin wears its most tremendous form 

She sails, exulting in her might; 
On the fierce necks of foaming billows rides, 

And through the roar 
Of angry ocean to the destin'd shore 

Her course triumiphant guides; 
As though beneath her frown the winds were dead, 
And each blue valley was their silent bed! 

Through all the perils of the main 
She knows her dauntless progress to maintain! 

Through quicksands, fiats, and breaking waves, 

Her dang'rous path she dares explore; 

Wrecks, storms, and calms, alike she braves, 
And gains, with scarce a breeze, the wish'd for shore! 

Or.in the hour of war, 
Fierce on she bounds; in conscious might, 

To meet the promis'd fight! 

While distant far, 
The fleets of wond'ring nations gaze, 
And view her course with emulous amaze, 

As like some champion son of fame, 

She rushes on the shock of arms, 
And joys to mingle in the loud alarms, 
Impell'd by rage, and fir'd with glory's flame 

Sailing with pomp upon the watery plain, 
Like some huge monster of the main, 
My ship her speckled bosom laves, 

And high in air her curling ensign waves* 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND, 213 

Her stately sides, with polish'd beauty gay, 
And gunnel, bright ivith gold's effulgent raj. 



God of the winds! O hear my prayV. 

Safe passage now bestow! 
Soft, o'er the slumbering deep, may fair 

And prosperous breezes blow! 
O'er the rough rock, and swelling wave, 

Do thou our progress guide! 
Do thou from angry ocean save, 

And o'er its rage preside. 



ELEGY TO THE DAUGHTER OF OWEN. 

There is no account extant of the fair subject. The poet* s name 
ivas O'Geran. 

Daughter of Owen! behold my grief! 

Look soft Pity's dear relief! 

Oh! let the beams of those life-giving eyes 

Bid my fainting heart arise ; 

And, from the now opening grave, 

Thy faithful lover save ! 

Snatch from death his dire decree! 
What is impossible to thee ? 
Star of my life, soul-cheering light.' 
Beam of mildness, soft as bright; 
Do not, like others of thy sex, 
Delight the wounded heart to vex! 



Haste, haste! no more the kind relief delay! 
Come speak, and look, and smiie, my woes away' 

O haste, ere pity be too late ! 

Haste, and intercept my fate! 
Or soon behold life, iove, and sorrow end. 
And see me to an early tomb descend ! 



214 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND, 

For, ah ! what med'cine can my cure impart, 
Or what physician heal a broken heart ? 



Again, at gentle love's command, 
Reach forth thy snowy hand! 
Soft into mine its whiteness steal, 
And its dear pressure let me feel! 

Unveil the bashful radiance of thine eyes, 
(Bright trembling gems!) and let me see them rise! 
Lift the fair lids where their soft glories roll, 
And send their secret glances to my soul. 



Hast thou not heard the weeping muse relate 
The mournful tale of young Narcissus' fate? 
How, as the bards of ancient days have sung, 
While fondly o'er the glassy stream, he hung; 
Enamour'd, he his lovely form survey'd, 
And died, at length, the victim of a shade. 

Sweet! do not thou a like misfortune prove! 
O be not such thy fate, nor such thy love! 
Let peril rather warn, and wisdom guide, 
And from thyself thy own attractions hide! 
No more on that bewitching beauty gaze, 
Nor trust thy sight to meet its dazzling blaze? 

Hide, hide thy breast so snowy fair! 

Hide the bright tresses of thy hair! 
And oh! those eyes of radiant ruin hide! 
What heart their killing lustre can abide? 
How, while their soft and tender glances roll, 
They steal its peace from the unwary soul! 

Hide the tnv in -berries of thy 'lip's perfume t 
Their breathing fragrance, and their deepening bloom v ; 
And those fair cheeks that glow like radiant morn, 
When Sol's bright rays his blushing east adbrn! 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 215 

No more to thy incautious sight display 'd 
Be that dear form, in tender grace array 'd! 

The rosy finger's tap'ring charms ; 

The slender hand, the snowy arms; 

The little foot so soft and fair; 

The timid step, the modest air; 
No more their graces let thine eyes pursue, 
But hide, O hide, the peril from thy view! 

The following; extracts from a poem called the Lamentation 
of Cucullin over the body of his son Conloch are very affecting: 
neither the name of the poet, nor the era in which it was 
written, are known. Cucullin, who was one of the celebrated 
" heroes of the Western Isle," fell in love with the beautiful Aife 
in Scotland, whom leaving pregnant upon his being suddenly 
recalled to Ireland, he directed, if the child should be a son, to 
send him to Ulster as soon as his military studies were completed, 
and gave her a chain of gold to put round his neck that he might 
know him. In time the youth came to Ireland, clothed in armour, 
to seek his father, who, mistaking him for an hostile knight, slew 
him, when the dying youth acknowledged himself to be his son. 

Alas', alas! for thee, 

O Aife's hapless son! 

And oh, of sires the most undone, 
My child! my child! woe, tenfold woe to me ' 

Alas! that e'er these fatal plains 
Thy valiant steps receiv'd! 

And oh, for Cualma's wretched chief, 

What now, alas! remains? 
What, but to gaze upon his grief? 
Of his sole son, by his own arm bereav'd! 

O! had I died before this hour! — 
My lost, my lovely child! 
Before this arm my Conloch's arm oppos'd; 

Before this spear against him was addrest; 
Before these eyes beheld his eye-lids clos'd, 

And life's warm stream thus issuing from his breast! 



216 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

Then, Death, how calmly had I met thy power! 
Then, at thy worst of terrors, had I smil'd ! 

Could Fate no other grief devise ? 
No other foe provide? 

Oh! could no aim but mine suffice 
To pierce my darling's side? 
My Conloch! 'tis denied thy father's woe, 
Even the sad comfort of revenge to know! 
To rush upon thy murderer's cruel breast, 
Scatter his limbs, and rend his haughty crest! 
While his whole tribe in blood should quench my rage, 
And the dire fever of my soul assuage! 
The debt of Vengeance then should, well be paid, 
And thousands fall the victims of thy shade! 

But what for me — for me is left! 
Of more, and dearer far than life bereft! 
"Doom'd to yet unheard of woe! 

A father, doom'd to pierce his darling's side, 
And, oh! with blasted e ;es abide 
To see the last dear drops of filial crimson flow! 

Alas! — my trembling limbs! — my fainting frame! — 

Grief! — is it thou? — 

O, conquering grief! — I know thee now! 
Well do thy sad effects my woes proclaim! 
Poor victor! — See thy trophies where they lie! — 
Wash them with tears! then lay thee down and die* 



Lo! the sad remnant of my slaughter'd race, 
Like some lone trunk, I wither in my place! 
No more the sons of Usnoth to my sight 
Give manly charms, and to my soul delight! 



u 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND, 217 

MOIRA BORB: A POEM. 

SUPPOSED TO BE BY OISIN. 

As morn from ocean lifts her lovely light, 
Fresh from the wave, with gentle splendours bright; 
So rose the maid as she approach'd the shore, 
And her light bark to land its burden bore. 

Deck'd by soft love with sweet attractive grace, 
And all the charms of mind-illumin'd face; 
Before our host the beauteous stranger bow'd, 
And, thrown to earth, her eyes their glories shroud. 

Her soft salute return'd, with courteous air, 
Finn, by the hand of snow, conducts the fair. 
Upon his left, the valiant Gaul was plac'd; 
And on his right, her seat the stranger grac'd 



2E 



218 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

A TRAVELLING HINT COUNTRY BANKS ADAIR: ITS MONASTIC 

RUINS TASTE AND VENERATION OF THE LOWER ORDERS FOR 

THEM PROVINCIAL IDIOM THE PALATINES GLOOMV COUN- 
TRY THE SOCIAL TOBACCO-PIPE FIGURATIVE EXPRESSIONS 

WHIMSICAL EXCHANGE A PAIR OF BREECHES THE MOUN- 
TAINEER AND HIS DOG APPROACH KILLARNEY OPINION OF 

THE LOW IRISH OF THE ENGLISH KILLARNEY IRISH FOND 

OF LAW — THE EPITAPH MUCRUSS PROMPT DROLLERY A 

CAUTION SINGULAR PREDILECTION RESOLUTION ANEC- 
DOTES OF CAROLAN SPECIMENS OF HIS POETIC GENIUS. 

1 HERE are no stages or regular posting to Killarney. I 
was obliged to hire a chaise to go all the way for four guineas : the 
owner of it paying for the feeding of the post-boy and horses. The 
traveller will now, more than ever, be distressed for want of an 
uniform circulating medium : I therefore advise him to change 
his notes for those of Roches, bankers in this place, which will be 
taken at Cork and Killarney, and on the road. A lady at the inn 
where I was, assured me, that she had been detained a whole day 
in the the country, because, having no money, and no other than 
local notes, the keeper of the turnpike refused to let her pass. 
Notes for eighteen-pence are abundant. Bankers are almost as 
common as potatoes in the counties of Limerick, Kerry, and Cork. 
At a village not far from Limerick, a blacksmith issues sixpenny 
notes, which circulate in the village, and no farther. 

In the band of one of the militia regiments I saw a banker who 
had failed for five pounds! and, trifling as this sum is, no doubt 
several suffered by the petty defaulter. In short, were not the in- 
conveniences of such a system greatly oppressive, and the tempta- 
tion to fraud shocking, these musquito bankers would furnish many 
a smile to the traveller as he wanders through the west and south- 









THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 219 

west of Ireland ; but, as he values comfort and progressive motion, 
let him be careful how he receives in payment the notes which 
will be offered to him. 

About seven o'clock in the morning, under a tolerable specimen 
of the humidity of the atmosphere of this part of Ireland, I bade 
adieu to Limerick, so famous for its pretty women, its river, its 
gloves, and its depots of beef and pork. I saw nothing worthy of 
notice till I approached Adair, the town where we first halted, 
which presented a very picturesque and beautiful appearance. 
This village, which is situated in the barony of Kennery, and on 
the Maig which communicates with- the Shannon, abounds with 
ruins of churches and convents, which in distant times belonged 
to the Franciscan friars. Every spot is holy ground. The ruins 
which are in the highest preservation, are those of a religious 
house in the south side of the town, built in the reign of. king- 
Edward I, by John earl of Kildare, for friars of the order of the 
Holy Trinity, for the redemption of christian captives : its steeple 
is supported by a plain arch, with four diagonal ogives meeting in 
the centre, and stairs which rise to the battlements. The nave 
and choir are small and plain. On the south side of the river there 
is another friary in high preservation, founded by John earl of 
Kildare, who died 1315. In the choir, which is large, are stalls, 
and a corresponding nave, with a lateral aisle on the south side. 
To the north of the steeple are some beautiful cloisters, with 
Gothic windows, within which, on three sides of the square, are 
corridors ; and on most of these windows are escutcheons with 
the English and saltier crosses, in general ranged alternately. 
The principal parts are of hewn lime-stone, which appears fresh, 
and the workmanship is simply elegant. Near the cloisters art 
several apartments, which appear to be much more ancient than 
the other parts of the building. In the east part of the town a grey 
friary was founded by Thomas earl of Kildare, and Joan his wife, 
daughter of James earl of Desmond, in 1465. 

All these ruins are delightfully situated, and time has finely 
coloured those parts which the ivy has not covered. The moral- 
istj the painter, and the antiquarian, will not pass Adair without 



220 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

heaving a sigh for poor mortality, without borrowing some vener- 
able grace from the hoary pile, or tracing, amid the mouldering 
ruins, the skill and taste of distant ages. My driver was a very good- 
humoured fellow, who stuttered most unintelligibly till I became a 
little accustomed to him ; and although wet to the skin, and a glass 
of whisky lay before him, he would first conduct me to these monas- 
tic remains which, if I might judge by the brightness of his eyes, 
and the vivacity of his gestures, and by putting the heads and 
tails and scattered limbs of his words together as well as I could, 
he seemed to enjoy in a manner very creditable to his feelings. 
I was surprised to find, not only here, but in every other part of 
Ireland which I visited, that the Anglo-hibernian language spoken 
was free from provincial idiom ; the only difference which I found 
arose from the pronunciation of a few words being more or less 
broad. 

Upon the road I met horses laden with goods fastened by ropes 
of hay, horses drawing in hay harness, and pigs checked in their 
erratic disposition, by having one of their front and hinder legs 
agreeably attached to each other by the same simple material ; 
and the female peasants looked neat and clean, and poised their 
milk-pails with admirable dexterity. 

As I passed the race-course, about a mile before I reached the 
town of Rathkeale, for the first time I heard the Irish funeral- 
howl issuing from a cottage, where, by an oblique peep, I saw 
several persons assembled, who, without any appearance of grief, 
produced the most dismal sounds. The ceremony upon those 
occasions I have before described. In this part of the country, and 
particularly in the neighbourhood of Rathkeale, the descendants 
of the Palatines, who came over to this country in 1709, reside. 
In the benignity of the British nation, these Germans found a 
refuge from the oppression of their own prince, and of the French, 
on account of their religious faith. They were recommended by 
queen Anne to the protection of the Irish parliament, which, from 
a belief that their residence would strengthen the protestant reli- 
gion, voted five thousand a year to her majesty for three years, to 
defray the expense attending their settlement. Their descendants 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 221 

are a loyal, laborious, and respectable race of men. In the rebel- 
lion they formed themselves into volunteer corps, and, by essential 
services, requited the protection which the nation had afforded to 
them. The county which they inhabit has experienced great ad- 
vantages from their skill and industry. Their cottages are built 
after the fashion of their own country, and are remarkably neat 
and clean. The women frequently wear the large straw hat and 
short petticoat of the Palatinate. They never marry out of their 
own community. They use a plough peculiar to themselves, and 
retain many other of their original customs. The native peasantry 
have been much improved by their society and example. Several 
of these people reside on Sir William Barker's estate, in the 
county of Tipperary, and are much respected. In their emigra- 
tion, settlement, and deportment, they resemble the Dutch colony 
established within two or three miles of Copenhagen, which sup- 
plies that city with milk, butter, and its best vegetables. 

Rathkeale (from rath, a fort ; and ciel, a wood) fourteen miles 
from Adair, is situated on the river Deel, within four miles of the 
Shannon: the country leading to it is agreeable. The remains of 
several castles are to be found in the town, which sustained an 
attack from the English in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. There 
are also the remains of a priory dedicated to the Virgin Mary. 
In the window of one of the ruins, the effigy of an old man, like 
that of peeping Tom of Coventry, has been ridiculously introduced. 
All the inns, as usual, have little shops ; and I rejoiced to find 
that whisky was rapidly giving way to Cork porter. The present 
lord viscount Courteney hast vast possessions in this part of the 
country. 

When I ascended those great mountains which rise between 
Rathkeale and Abbeyfeale, I found the road for the first time 
very bad, and neglected, in consequence, as I was informed, of 
this route to Killarney being very little frequented. The country 
assumed a barren and gloomy appearance : the thinly scattered 
peasantry, attracted by the novel appearance of a chaise in these 
gloomy regions, stood half-enveloped in smoke at the doors of 
their miserable hovels, and displayed all the marks of extreme 



222 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

penury. The summit of one mountain proved, when we had 
reached it, to be only the base of another : the evening, shrouded 
in black clouds, charged with rain, rapidly set in ; the wind roar- 
ed, and only the light-blue smoke of the cabin relieved the uni- 
versally deep-embrowned sterility of the scene. In these, and 
most other mountainous districts, the milk of sheep is used. 

At Abbeyfeale, so called from the river that runs through it, 
and celebrated for a monastery which was formerly founded there, 
I put up for the night, which I expected to have passed in a 
wretched TOfld hovel, but was agreeably disappointed in finding 
the chaise stWp before a neat inn which had just been opened. A 
fowl, who lost his head by my arrival, and who was not the ten- 
derest of his kind ; some excellent potatoes, a pyramid of fried 
pork, and a pint of excellent port-wine, introduced in a mug, 
formed the blended me?Js of dinner and supper, to which let me 
add the comfort of a most excellent turf-fire, and a good bed. 

In the morning a bank-note of a neighbouring blacksmith was 
offered to me in exchange, which I only detained whilst I copied 
it as follows: " No. 18. One British shilling: for twenty -one. of 
i4 these, I will give the bearer a guinea note." The name signed 
I could not make out. The road to Castle Island, our next stage, 
distant ten miles, was a continuation of the same gloomy and 
mountainous scenery of black bog and barren heath, enlivened 
only by a few scattered goats : for miles not a cabin was to be 
•seen; and the only animated being in the shape of man, a ragged 
peasant, upon a lean horse, drawing a hurdle with shafts without 
any wheels. When I looked out, I could scarcely believe that 
such a scene of desolation could conduct to the far-famed beauties 
of Killarney. 

I found Castle Island a large town, in a state of rapid decay, 
owing, as I was informed, to a dispute amongst the proprietors 
regarding the division of their respective interests. The place 
was formerly called the Castle of the Island of Kerry. The cas- 
tle was erected in 1226; but the ruins want wood and verdure to 
make them interesting. Immense masses of this building broken 
off, as solid and compact as rock, lie in the field in which it stands. 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 223 

Only the shell of the market-house and assembly-rooms remains. 
The charter-school established here, I was informed, was wholly 
neglected: upon this subject I shall remark hereafter. It being 
cold, whilst the horses were feeding, I went into the kitchen to 
drink some wine and water; here I met with two old women 
who were smoking a single and very short pipe between them, 
each alternately taking a social puff. Upon my asking one of 
them whether the rebellion had raged here much, she replied : 
" No, your honour, we had only a little blast of it:" this figurative 
strength of expression is very common amongst the low Irish. 
Upon a rain having fallen after a severe frost, and the w T eather 
becoming softer, a fellow said, u that the rain had taken the 
" venom out of it." Another said to a magistrate, before whom he 
brought a complaint against one of his neighbours, after describ- 
ing what malice the latter bore him : " By my shoul, your ho- 
" nour, he would liaison the very earth under me if he could." 
One of my old ladies, with natural pofiteness, offered to extin- 
guish their joint pipe, if smoking were unpleasant to me. At 
the Castle Island, the innkeeper insisted upon it that all my 
shillings were bad, for the purpose of forcing upon me his shil- 
ling and sixpenny notes. Such perfect strangers are the people 
of this county (Kerry) to coin, that when the new penny-pieces 
were first circulated, the following singular and whimsical cir- 
cumstance occurred: a militia soldier offered one of them in 
market to a salesman for a pair of stockings, the latter returned 
a tester in exchange with the stockings. 

Turning round the road as I left this town, which I did with 
infinite pleasure, I met an Irish funeral : the corpse was in a plain 
deal coffin, and the population of two or three villages followed it, 
amongst whom about four or five men and women kept up a con- 
stant mournful cry, without any other indication of affliction : not 
one of them was in mourning, and I found my approach increased 
the chorus of the funeral yell. The country still continued very 
wild and dreary. In these mountainous regions, a stranger, mov- 
ing in a pair of breeches, attracts even the attention of the dogs. 
the constant inmates of the cabins, who, upon ^eeinc? so gre 



224 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

novelty approach, naturally regard it as a phenomenon portending 
no good, and accordingly set up the faithful howl of alarm. One 
of these vigilant guardians, after contemplating me for some time 
as I walked forward, gave the usual public notice of my arrival ; 
upon which one of these mountaineers threw, not a stone, but a 
bit of turf, at him, and pulling off his hat, apologized for his dog 
wanting better manners. In one cabin I saw a pretty obstinate 
contest between a pig and his mistress ; the latter wanted him to 
go out, and the former was resolved to stay in, and gained his 
point. The low Irish are very fond of giving fine names to these 
animals. A woman was overheard to say to a great sow: " Ah, 
Juliana! get out, what do you do here?" This reminds me of a 
celebrated pig-feeder and agriculturist in England, who, after 
dinner, at a show of cattle meeting gave a toast, Virginian his 
sow, and Horatio his boar. 

A few miles before we reached Killarney, the face of the 
country very rapidly changed to fertility and beauty. The 
blue and purple sides of those vast mountains which inclose the 
lakes appeared full in my view: they rose majestically from a 
sea of vapour, and their heads were lost in the clouds. As we 
decended into the vale which led to the town, my driver, who by 
this time was quite intelligible to me, and who I found had im- 
pregnated me with a little of his stuttering, the natural effect of 
sympathy and association, observed : " Ah, your honour ! here are 
« glens and mountains! if you had them in your country, what 
" a fine thing it would be for the robbers and murderers there: 
" by my shoul, they are here of no use." I could not help smiling 
at his opinion of England : in vain did I tell him, that we had glens 
and mountains too, which were not infested with robbers and 
murderers. He shook his head to all I said. In many parts of Ire- 
land I found the same unfortunate and unpleasant prejudice. 

Instead of finding Killarney a little romantic place, as I had 
previously penciled it in my imagination, I entered a large town 
resembling Newport in the Isle of Wight; its streets were crowd- 
ed with people : it is the principal town in the county of Kerry. 
To my great disgust, I found the quarter-sessions were holding 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND, 225 

Every Irishman thinks himself somewhat of a lawyer, and is, from 
the little vanity of displaying his logical skill, more than from a 
spirit of litigation, uncommonly fond of being a party to a cause, 
or forming one of the auditory of a court of justice ; hence in Ire- 
land the quarter-sessions never fail to bring an uncommon number 
of people together. 

I arrived late, and found a very respectable hotel so crowded, 
that I could scarcely make my way to the landlord to learn that he 
had not even a vacant chair in his house ; so I drove, by his recom- 
mendation, to an inn kept by a Mrs. Murphy, which I found to 
be more quiet and very comfortably, and with which I had no fault 
to find, but that I was obliged at night to fasten my room door 
with a pair of old snuffers. After a late dinner the weather cleared 
up, and the lustre of a new moon, occasionally obscured by light 
clouds, induced me to walk to Ross Castle, about two miles dis- 
tant, to the shores of the lower lake. As I stood by this hoary pile, 
the stupendous mountains and dusky islands finely reflected in the 
water, which resembled a dark mirror, the soft brightness of the 
lunar light, the sound of distant cascades, and of a boat moving as 
if by magic to the shore, formed a sublime and solemn scene too 
powerful and impressive for the pen to convey. Before breakfast 
the next day, I strolled through the town, which contains several 
handsome houses. Behind a screen of arbutus, laurels, and jessa- 
mines, raised upon the external wall of the Roman catholic chapel, 
a monument attracted my notice ; it was a marble urn, half co- 
vered with a pall, resting upon a sarcophagus, under which the 

following elegant and affecting epitaph was written. 

- ^ 

" Entombed 

near this Monument, lie the remains 

' of the Right Reverend GERALD TRAHAN, 

Doctor of the Sorbonne, and R. C. Bishop of Kerry. 

His doctrine and his life reflected credit on each other . 

In him were blended 

the easy politeness of a gentleman 

with the purest principles of a Christian. 

2 F 



226 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

Given to hospitality, gentle, sober, just, holy, continent, 

his charity was diffusive and exemplary ; 

the patron and protector of honourable merit. 

He was learned without ostentation, 

and religious without intolerance : 

his affable manners and instructive conversation 

charmed every ear, and vanquished every heart. 

To perpetuate the memory of so beloved a character, 

his mourning friends have erected this monument, 

a frail memorial of their veneration for his virtues, 

and a faint testimony of their grief for a misfortune, 

alas ! indelibly engraved on their hearts. 



He died on the 4th day of July, 1797, aged 54 years. 1 * 

If I were charmed with the epitaph, I was doubly so upon find- 
ing that it was the composition of a firotestant clergyman. Whilst 
I was puzzling myself to think how I should reach major Mahony, 
of Dunloe Castle, six miles distant, to whom I had a letter of in- 
troduction, he was pointed out to me in the street; and, after a 
very kind reception, he introduced me to major, now lieutenant- 
colonel Heyland, the commanding officer of the Londonderry mi- 
litia, who, with the characteristic politeness and warmth of an Irish 
gentleman, improved by having visited the most polished courts 
of Europe, made an immediate arrangement for my seeing every 
thing worthy of attention at Killarney. In half an hour after this 
introduction, I was on my road to Mucruss, well mounted, with 
mv Killarney friend. We passed by the house and grounds of 
lord Kenmare : the former is large and somewhat aged, and pos- 
sesses nothing worthy of notice ; the latter are very beautiful. As 
we turned into Mucruss, the estate of H. A. Herbert, Esq., the 
richest scenery opened upon us : the ground, gently undulating, 
clothed with vivid green verdure, the effect of the great humidity 
of the climate here, was adorned with almost every variety of 
shrubs, flourishing in the highest beauty and perfection. The 
rrraceful ruins of Mucruss abbey on our right, half embosomed 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 227 

*in a group of luxuriant and stately trees, influenced, as soon as 
seen, the bridle of our horses. I contemplated, with reverence, a 
very ancient and prodigious yew, the trunk of which is between 
seven and eight feet in circumference, which grows in the centre 
of a cloistered court, and covers it witn a roof of branches and 
leaves, whilst some ash-trees of a prodigious size overshadow it 
without. This yew-tree is the object of superstitious veneration 
amongst the low people, who also exhibit their devotion to the 
saint of the place, by going round the building a certain number 
of times, during which they recite prayers. Pilgrims come from 
a considerable distance to do penance here. According to tradi- 
tion, many Irish kings and chiefs are buried in the abbey, a 
favourite place of sepulture, where the dead are buried only on 
the south and east sides : the north is looked upon, I was told, as 
the Devil's side, and the west is preserved for unbaptized children, 
for soldiers, and strangers. In this court are windows of unequal 
sizes: to try the prompt drollery of an Irishman whom I met 
afterwards, I asked him the cause of the inequality. " By my 
" shoul !" said he, " and the great windows were for the fat friars 
" to look through, and the smaller ones for the little friars." 
Whilst I w r as reading a pathetic epitaph upon one of the monu- 
ments in the abbey, I felt myself affected by putrid effluvia ; and 
upon looking on each side, I observed, for the first time, some 
bodies, which might have been interred two or three months, in 
coffins, the planks of which had started, not half covered with 
mould. Upon quitting the spot, a great collection of skulls and 
bones, promiscuously heaped up, in niches in the walls, excited 
melancholy observation. 

I would recommend to the good people of Killarney in their 
arrangement of these wretched relics of our frail existence, the 
mode adopted in the chapel of All Souls, commonly called the 
Skull Chajiel, at the Franciscan convent on the Tereira da Cea in 
Funchal, in the island of Madeira, the roof and sides of which 
are entirely composed of the skulls and thigh-bones of deceased 
monks, which are arranged with ghastly taste and horrible regu- 
larity. The soil of the abbey is very thin, and every effort has 



228 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

been made to dissuade the lower classes from bringing their 
dead here, but in vain. It is a fact that those who have been, 
buried six months or a year before, are raised and placed on one 
side to make room for those who are brought for interment 
afterwards. 

So loaded with contagion is the air of this spot, that every 
principle of humanity imperiously calls upon the indulgent 
owner to exercise his right of closing it up as a place of sepulture 
in future. I warn every one who visits Killarney, as he values 
life, not to enter this abbey. Contrast renders doubly horrible the 
ghastly contemplation of human dissolution, tainting the sur- 
rounding air with pestilence, in a spot which nature has enriched 
with a profusion of romantic beauty. The superstition of the 
people in the neighbourhood of Adair, which I have mentioned, 
crowded one of the . abbeys there with their dead, until the spot 
became the seat of infection ; upon which, lord Adair, owner of 
the place, with equal prudence and resolution, sent for some of 
the soldiers of a militia regiment quartered in the neighbourhood, 
and having taken every proper precaution against infection, pre- 
vailed upon them, by a liberal remuneration, in one night to re- 
move every vestige of corruption from the favourite abbey into 
the river, and never afterwards permitted another corpse to be 
buried in his grounds. His lordship lost his popularity for a short 
period, and more serious consequences were apprehended by 
his friends, but a little time and reflection restored him to the 
good opinion of those whom his good sense and firmness had 
offended. 

Some years since an Englishman of handsome appearance, 
and in the prime of life, from what cause I could not learn, se- 
lected this abbey for the place of his retirement, and covered an 
open cell in one of the upper apartments, with fragments of 
tombs and coffins to protect himself against the inclemencies of 
of the weather. He sometimes associated with the neighbours, 
and obtained such a reputation for sanctity, that the surrounding 
peasants used to supply him with food, till at last it was discovered 
that the holy man was given to solitary whisky indulgences, and 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 229 

that he was seen reeling amongst the graves, and apostrophizing 
the bones that lay scattered in the aisles ; in consequence of which 
the superstitious veneration of the good people of Killarney dimi- 
nished, and in one night the eremite disappeared, having pre- 
viously declared his intention of retiring to a cell upon the rock 
of Lisbon. I remember in Devonshire a letter-carrier, who, in 
consequence of a disappointment of the heart in early life, never 
shaved, and always lived upon raw meat. 

The mansion of Mr. Herbert is a comfortable one; he was 
from home, but his housekeeper insisted upon tempting us with 
a sandwich of exquisite Killarney mutton : the house is in a bad 
situation. We visited a cottage which he built, called Turk -forest 
Lodge; the view from one side of it is fine, the situation is singu- 
lar, and it seems to shiver in the vast shadow of the Turk moun- 
tain, at the base of which it stands. 

Mucruss lake lies expanded below the garden very beautifully. 
From the cottage we proceeded to the Turk cascade, which falls 
from the Devil's Punch-bowl, a supposed volcanic crater, upon the 
summit of Mangerton mountain. Of the beauty of this fall I could 
not judge, as it was supplied with but little water when I saw it. 
The visitor of Killarney will be applied to by the people who 
belong to the boats, which are kept for visiting the lakes : the ex- 
pense of hiring them, the charge of the boatmen, French-horns, 
victualling them, powder for the petteraro, generally amounts to 
about nine guineas, by the time all the lakes are visited. I speak 
only from information, for the polite attention I received preven- 
ted me from stating it with the certainty of experience. All the 
boats belong to Lord Kenmare, as lord of the lakes. In conse- 
quence of the sudden squalls that frequently blow, no sails are per- 
mitted. 

The next morning being very rainy, we were prevented from 
going on the lakes, but were gratified by hearing the band of the 
Londonderry militia, which is a remarkably fine one, play some 
beautiful airs, composed by lady Steward, sister of lord Castle- 
reagh, and others of the justly celebrated Irish bard, Carolan. I 
have taken a brief account of this extraordinary genius, from the 



230 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

Historical Memoirs of the Irish Bards, by Joseph Cooper Walker, ' 
Esq. This poet was born in the year 1670, in the village of Nob- 
ber, in the county of Westmeath ; he was deprived of sight at an 
early period: " My eyes," he used pleasantly to say, " are trans- 
planted into my ears." Several years after he had lost his sight, 
he fell in love with a Miss Bridget Cruise, who refused him her 
hand : he made sweet verses upon her, upon which Mr. Walker 
elegantly compares him to Apollo, who, when he caught at 
the nymph, filled his arms with bays. A very extraordinary effect 
of his passion for this lady is mentioned by Mr. O'Conner. Upon 
his return from shore from St. Patrick's Purgatory, a cave in an 
island in Lough Dearg, in the county of Donnegal, where he had 
been on a pilgrimage, he found several pilgrims waiting the arri- 
val of the boat which had conveyed him to the object of his 
devotion : in assisting some of these travellers to get on board, he 
chanced to take a lady's hand, and instantly exclaimed, " By the 
hand of my gossip, this is the hand of Bridget Cruise :" his feel- 
ing was faithful; the being whom he touched was the object of 
his earliest love. He was said to have been a genuine representa- 
tive of the ancient bard, with a great share of Anacreontic spirit 
in his compositions. In his wanderings from house to house, 
where he always received a cordial welcome, he composed those 
airs, which are justly the delight of his countrymen. Carolan, at 
an early period of life, contracted a fondness for Irish wine, that 
is, whisky and other spirituous liquors, from which being inter- 
dicted by his physician, he sunk into a profound melancholy. Pas- 
sing one day a grocer's shop, where whisky was sold, after six 
weeks' abstinence from his favourite indulgence, he tuitl the young 
man who stood behind the counter to bring a measure of his 
favourite liquor, and declared that he only wished to smell it: the 
fumes ascended to his brain, and all his genius and animal spirits 
revived. He again drank the forbidden draught, and composed 
one of the sweetest of his songs, in that state, which he has so 
finely described in his " Receipt," when 

" Sense feels no pain, and mind no care,'* 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 231 

His wit was very ready and forcible. Being upon a visit with 
a parsimonious lady, as he sat one clay playing upon his harp, he 
heard the butler, whose name was O'Fiinn, unlock the cellar door, 
upon which he followed him, and requested a cup of beer; the 
fellow refused, and thrust him rudely from the cellar, upon which 
he composed the following severe epigram: 

What pity hell's gates are not kept by O'Fiinn ! 
So surly a dog would let nobody in. 

So exquisite was the ear of Carolan, that he laid a wager with 
a celebrated Italian performer, upon a visit to lord Mayo, that he 
would follow him in any piece he played, and that he would after- 
wards play a voluntary, in which the foreigner should not be able 
to follow him; the offer was accepted, and Carolan was victorious. 
The celebrated Geminiani pronounced Carolan to be a wonderful 
musical genius. Soon after the death of his wife, to whom he 
was ardently attached, he followed her to the grave in March 1738, 
in the sixty-eighth year of his age. The following exquisite lines, 
from a translation by Miss Brookes, in her Reliques of Irish Poetry, 
will prove how sweet a poet Carolan was. 



SONG FOR MABLE KELLY, 

BY CAROLAN. 

The youth whom fav'ring Heavens decree 
To join his fate, my fair ! with thee, 
And see that lovely head of thine 
With fondness on his arm recline; 

No thought but joy can fill his mind, 
Nor any care can entrance find ; 
Nor sickness hurt, nor terror shake, 
And Death will spare him for thy sake! 



232 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

For the bright flowing- of thy hair, 
That decks a face so heavenly fair; 
And a fair form to match that face, 
The rival of the cygnet's grace, 

When with calm dignity she moves, 
Where the clear stream her hue improves; 
Where she her snowy bosom laves, 
And floats majestic on the waves. 

Grace gave thy form, in beauty gay, 
And rang'd thy teeth in bright array; 
All tongues with joy thy praises tell, 
And love delights with thee to dwell. 

To thee harmonious powers belong, 
That add to verse the charms of song; 
Soft melody to numbers join, 
And make the poet half-divine. 

As when the softly blushing rose, 
Close by some neighbouring lily grows; 
Such is the glow thy cheeks diffuse, 
And such their bright and blended hues i 

The timid lustre of thine eye, 
With nature's purest tints can vie; 
With the sweet blue-bell's azure gem. 
That droops upon its modest stem ! 

How blest the bard, O lovely maid! 
To find thee in thy charms array'd; 
Thy pearly teeth, thy flowing hair. 
Thy neck beyond the cygnet fair! 

As when the simple birds at night 
Fly round the torch's fatal light, 
Wild, and with ecstasy elate, 
Unconscious of approaching fate: 









^ 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 335 

So the soft splendours of thy face, 
And thy fair form's enchanting grace, 
Allure to death unwary love, 
And thousands the bright ruin prove! 

Ev'n he whose hapless eyes no ray 
Admit from beauty's cheering day; 
Yet, though he cannot see the light, 
He feels it warm, and knows it bright . 

In beauty, talents, taste refin'd, 
And all the graces of the mind; 
In all unmatch'd thy charms remain, 
Nor meet a rival on the plain. 

Thy slender foot, thine azure eye, 
Thy smiling lip of scarlet dye; 
Thy tapering hand, so soft and fair, 
The bright redundance of thy hair! 

Oh, blest be the auspicious day 
That gave them to thy poet's lay! 
O'er rival bards to lift his name, 
Inspire his verse, and swell his fame. 



CAROLAN TO GRACY NUGENT. 

BY CHARLES WILSON, ESQ. 

The fairest flow'r of beauty's spring, 
Now softly prompts the swelling string; 
Oh! Gracy, born of generous race,* 
Too happy in each nameless grace: 



* She was related to the Nugent family. 

2G 



234 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

Who meets thy presence sure is blest, 
No more by anxious sorrow prest; 
If fortune, frowns, one single ray 
From thy bright eyes effuses day. 

Thy hair by Beauty's fingers spun, 
Dipt in the gleam of setting sun, 
Sheds on thy neck, in wanton play, 
The mimic drops and pearls of day* 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 235 



CHAPTER. XVII. 

VISIT TO THE LOWER LAKE ROSS CASTLE THE ISLAND OF IN- 

NISFALLEN DESCRIBED THE HERMAPHRODITIC AL HOLLY 

o'sULLIVAN's CASCADE— -VEGETABLE MASSACRE THE QUAR- 
TER SESSIONS LOW IRISH FOND OF LAW NATIONAL CHARAC- 
TERISTICS DROLLERY OF CONVICTED CULPRIT WIT CLAS- 
SICAL CHARACTER OF THE COUNTY OF KERRY CASTLES- 
CATHOLIC SEMINARIES VISIT TO THE UPPER LAKE THE 

STRAWBERRY-TREE EVASIVE ANSWERS THE ECHO ANEC- 
DOTE BREAKING HEADS FOR LOVE FIGHTING A SIGN OF 

TRANQUILLITY THE PURPLE MOUNTAIN ANECDOTES OF 

KING DONAHUE ANECDOTE OF IRISH MAGNANIMITY TIL- 
LAGE AND AGRICULTURE POPULATION OF IRELAND. 

UPON the weather clearing up about two o'clock in the 
afternoon, we rode to Ross castle to take water, where colonel 
Hey land's boat and six men and a bugle were waiting for us. 
The road to the castle runs through a bog, and is rather dreary. 
The castle is picturesque, and forms a barrack for a company of 
soldiers : it stands in Ross island, the largest in the lake, about a 
mile in length, almost covered with evergreens, and abounding 
with copper and lead mines. This castle was formerly a royal re- 
sidence, or rather the seat of the lords of the lakes, who assumed 
the title of kings. The family of O 'Donahue was the last that bore 
this title. As we stopped to look at the castle, one of the people 
belonging to it presented me with a copper two shillings and six- 
penny piece, which had been found with others of the same coin 
in Ireland, and which were coined, and forced into short-lived 
circulation, during the distresses of James the second in Ireland. 
The lower lake seemed to be spotted with an archipelago of 
islands. We proceed to Innisfallen, one of the largest and most 
beautiful of them. It is a lawn containing about seventeen acre? 



236 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND, 

of the richest verdure, fenced with rock : a path runs round the 
island, overarched with trees of the most luxuriant growth. The 
holly, beech, and yew, abound here, and grow to prodigious size 
and beauty. I saw a holly with two sorts of leaves, one prickly 
and the other smooth - t they were called male and female leaves : 
and another was eleven feet and a half in circumference. From 
one point we saw before us the vast mountains of Glenaa and 
Toomish, towering into the clouds, which were contrasted by the 
softer scenes of the wooded shon,s of Ross island. 

At one extremity of Innisfallen, our guide took great pains to 
show us a hollow rock, which is called the Bed of Honour, and is 
said to possess a charm against sterility in women. Amongst 
brambles and briars we found the remains of a small abbey, found- 
ed at the close of the sixth century. According to the annals of 
Munster, a. d. 1180, this abbey and ground were esteemed a 
paradise and a secure sanctuary, in which the treasures of the 
whole country were occasionally deposited with its clergy. On 
the north-east point near the landing-place is a small building, 
supposed to have been a chapel, now used by visitors to dine in. 
The ledges of rocks which environ this wilderness of sweets are 
romantic beyond imagination: they were richly carpeted to their 
very edges with verdure, which cover their angles and uneven- 
ness ; and they support, without any apparent nourishment, the 
richest shrubs and trees. In some places these rocks presented the 
most rugged and fantastic little bays, in others they had the grace- 
ful appearance of pedestals of polished marble. In this Tempe the 
imagination felt all its energies awaken ; it formed some romantic 
associate for every bower, green nook, and winding path : in the 
centre it raised an aerial monument to that bard who has elucida- 
ted nature without either an example or an imitator, to Shak- 
speare ; and opposite to the fairy pile, it placed the bust of that 
wonderful being, who, without a rival in form, voice, expression, 
and majesty, has embodied the divinest images of his mind, to a 
Siddons I 

Hie laetis otia fundis 

Speluncae, vivique lacus, hie frigida Tempe, 

Mugitusque boiim. 






THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 237 

Islands in this lake are dispersed without order along the 
level shores to the east and north ; to the south and west, there is 
one unbroken sheet of water. 

Upon leaving this enchanting spot, we crossed over to O'Sul- 
livan's cascade, a mountain stream roaring down a rocky channel 
on the side of Glenaa. We were conducted through a winding 
Unequal path, deeply overshadowed with trees, which lessened as 
we approached the fall, upon which the sun shone brilliantly ; the 
leafless branch of a blasted oak stretched half-across it ; its re- 
bounding foam, white as the driven snow, spread as it were a 
muslin veil over the light green of the shrubs which crowned the 
summit of the fall, and the gray and moss-covered rocks, over 
which the descending waters roared to the lake. Upon our return, 
I was informed that Glenaa was till lately entirely clothed with 
the finest woods. Oh that the genius of the lakes could have pre- 
vailed upon the noble lord of the mountain (lord Kenmare) to 
have spared this vegetable massacre, this melancholy, I had 
almost said sacrilegious mutilation ! 

Procumbunt picese, sonat icta securibus ilex, 

Fraxineaeque trabes; cuneis et fissile robur 

Scinditur: advolvunt ingentes montibus ornos. — Virgil. 

Although stripped of its leafy honours by the axe, it still pre- 
sented a majestic appearance: one side of it was finely feathered 
with oak, holly, and arbutus, and those parts which the woodman 
had denuded were covered over with a rich warm brown tint. 

Let me here caution those who visit the lakes against having 
turf or Kilkenney-coal fires in their bed-rooms ; by the former I 
had nearly perished in the night by suffocation, and the latter has 
more than once proved fatal. 

The next morning I attended the quarter-sessions, at which a 
barrister presided. At this meeting the character of the people 
was strikingly developed. The greatest good-humour prevailed 
in the court, which was a large naked room, with a quantity of 
turf piled up in one corner of it. Every face looked animated ; 
scarcely any decorum was kept, but justice was expeditiously, 



338 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

and I believe substantially, administered by the barrister, who is 
addressed by that name, and who appeared to be perfectly compe- 
tent to the discharge of his judicial duties. He was elevated above 
the rest. A fellow, like every one of his countrymen in or out of 
court, loving law to his soul, projected himself too forward to hear 
a cause which was proceeding: the officer of the court, who, like 
the bell of Peeping Tom of Coventry, made a horrible noise by 
endeavouring to keep silence, struck this anxious unlucky wight 
a blow on the head with a long pole, almost sufficiently forcible to 
have felled an ox ; the fellow rubbed his head, all the assembly 
broke out in a loud laugh, in which the object of their mirth could 
not resist joining. Instead of counsel, solicitors pleaded: one of 
them was examining a rustic,' a witness on behalf of his client) 
when I entered : the poor fellow suffered answers unfavourable to 
the party for whom he appeared to escape him ; upon which, after 
half a dozen imprecations, the solicitor threw the Testament on 
which he had been sworn at his head ; a second laugh followed ; 
another fellow swore backwards and forwards ten times in about 
as many minutes, and whenever he was detected in the most abo- 
minable perjftry, the auditory was thrown into convulsions of 
merriment. The barrister held in his hands not the scales of jus- 
tice, but a little brass machine for weighing shillings, similar to 
that which I described to have been used by my fair glover in 
Dublin, and which was in frequent requisition upon the judicial 
seat, for ascertaining the due weight of fees paid into court; 
another proof of the injurious effects of the wretched state of 
the circulating medium ! The day before, a young nobleman, 
whose political genius and unblemished integrity have been since 
so brilliantly brought forward, by the demise of one of the most 
incorruptible and eloquent, though not the most successful of 
ministers, was seated on the bench, for the purpose of observing 
the habits of the people: I allude to the present chancellor of 
the exchequer, lord Henry Petty. His presence was regared as 
a flattering compliment; but whether it kept those sons of drol- 
lery and mirth in better order I know not. 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 239 

When his Lordship was present, a culprit was sentenced to 
three months imprisonment : as he was conducted out of court, 
the fellow said, u By Jasus, it is all owing to his lordship, long 
" life to him ; if he had not been there, I know the barrister, as 
" worthy a gentleman as ever lived, would only have sentenced 
" me for a fortnight; but he thought, as the young lord was 
" there, if he had let me off more aisy, he would not have been 
" thought to have done his duty, and there it is." 

The low Irish are not only fond of law, but are capable of mak- 
ing shrewd remarks upon the administration of justice. Many 
years since, a gentleman of consequence and interest was tried at 
the assizes of Galway, for murder, and, notwithstanding the 
clearest evidence of the fact, the jury acquitted him. Soon after-, 
wards, as some gentlemen were standing at a large window at 
Lucas's coffee-house, much resorted to in those days, situated 
exactly where the Exchange now is, a criminal was carried past 
to be executed: upon which they said, " What is that fellow 
" going to be hanged for?** A low fellow who was passing by, 
and overheard the question, looked up and said: " Plaze your 
' ( honours ! for want of a Galivay jury." 

The next morning we set off by water for Dunloe castle, the 
seat of Major Mahony, standing upon the river Laune, or Lune, 
beyond the north end of the lower lake, which is nine miles long. 
The mouth of the river is so shallow, that we were obliged to get 
into a smaller boat, and were nearly lifted over several shallows. 
It is the only outlet from the lake, which receives from the sur- 
rounding mountains many plentiful streams,' and discharges itself 
into the ocean about seven or eight miles distant. It separates 
O'Sullivan's country, as it is called, though it belongs to Mr. 
Herbert, from the estate of Macarthymore, which completes the 
western boundary of the lower lake. The lower people of Kerry 
are celebrated for their classical spirit. A gentleman, who alight- 
ed from his horse to take a view of the ancient family seat of 
Macarthymore some years since, gave the bridle to a poor 
boy to hold, who seemed very anxious to be employed in that 
way : the traveller, struck with his manner, entered into corner- 



240 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

sation with him, and to his astonishment found, under an appear- 
ance of the most abject poverty, that he was well acquainted with 
the best Latin poets, had read most of the historians, and was then 
studying the orations of Cicero. 

Upon our arrival at the castle, we found our horses ready 
saddled, and we immediately proceeded to a frightful scene of 
desolation, called the Gap, about three miles distant. It is a 
hideous pass through two prodigious mountains of barren rock 
and masses of stone, which looked as if all the rubbish of the 
creation, after the great creator had completed his work, had been 
collected together. From the summit of one of the sides, the 
Purple mountain, as it is called, capped with cloud, and the upper 
lake, are seen. Although there is scarcely soil sufficient to nou- 
rish a blade of grass, yet a little smoke which we saw, denoted 
that, upon the craggy cliffs, a few wretched cabins were scattered. 
The only animated being, except the individuals who composed 
our party, was a poor labourer, who, at a giddy depth, was quar- 
rying slate. I felt no indisposition to quit this desolate region 
and return to Dunloe castle, where we found an excellent dinner, 
and an Irish welcome, waiting our arrival. In the woods near the 
castle, we passed by some of its towers and apartments, which the 
cannon of Cromwell and the rending hand of time, had laid pros- 
trate. The part that retains its perpendicularity still preserves 
the dignified name of a castle, although it has only one room on 
a floor, and many of the family are obliged to be accommodated in 
out offices. I should think the castle, like many others which I 
saw in Ireland, must have been small : very few can have been 
places of defence. The pride of the ancient Irish gentry induced 
them to dignify their residences with the name of castles ; that of 
a house, which is now so much the fashion in England, that every 
citizen's snug little box, with forty yards square of shrubbery, 
flower, and kitchen-garden, bears the pompous name, was called 
in Irish, by way of contempt, clahane, or a heap of stones. In 
Ledwich's Antiquities, there is the following account of Irish 
castles : 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 241 

" On the arrival of Henry II he ordered castles to be built: 
u the want of these facilitated his grandfather's attempt on En- 
" gland, as those he constructed secured its possession. In these 
" our new colonists defied the resentment of the natives, and by 
" them they restrained the fickleness, and preserved the allegiance 
" of the Irish. About 1180, Lacy castellated Leinster and Meath. 

*************** 
" The wild and rude manner of life of the Irish made them look 
" on castles and the confinement within them with abhorrence. 
" Sir John de Courcy constructed two in Mac Mahon's country : 
" these awed the latter, he became complaisant, swore fidelity, 
" and made Courcy his gossip. Courcy at length bestowed on him 
" the castles and their appendant lands. Within a month Mac 
" Mahon demolished both. Being asked the reason for doing so, 
" he answered, that he did not promise to hold stones, but land: 
" that it was contrary to his nature to live within cold walls whilst 
" the woods were so nigh. It was late before the Irish, in imita- 
" lion of the English, raised a few piles for the captains of the 
" country. ' I dare boldly say/ adds Davis, ' that never any par- 
'* ticular person, from the conquest to the reign of James I, did 
" build any stone or brick house for his private habitation, but 
" such as have lately obtained estates according to the course of 
" the law of England.' The reason of this he explains in his re- 
" port of tanistry. Baron Finglas, in 1534, affirmed it to be easy 
" to secure Ireland, from the number of forts and castles in it : 
" but Fynes, Moryson, and Spencer, thought more were necessa- 
" ry, as the Irish had possessed themselves of many ; and, ac- 
" cording to Stanihurst, even built some. The latter tells us, 
" O'Neal, O'Carrol, and the other great Irish princes, had large 
" strong castles, and well furnished with military stores, and a 
" watchman on their tops constantly calling out to alarm robbers. 

*************** 
" The reader has already anticipated me in remarking, that all 
" our castles, till the time of James I, were built by English masons, 
u and on English plans: to describe, therefore, their various parts, 
u after the curious and very circumstantial account already given 

2 H 



242 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

" by Mr. King, of the English ones, in the Archieologia, wouM 
" be but to transcribe what he has written. Many of our Anglo- 
" Hibernian castles, as they were in 1599, may be seen in Pacata 
" Hibernia ; a work, when to be had complete, extremely valuable 
" for its curious maps and engravings. These castles appear to have 
" been large and well fortified, and so strong as to bear a long 
" siege, and the assault of artillery ; and most of these remain, 
" though in ruins. As for the battlemented houses and lawns, in- 
" creasing civility has levelled most of them. The common small 
" square castles, by far the most numerous, were the residence of 
" English undertakers. All these are existing monuments of the 
" infelicity of former ages, when cruel arid domestic wars con- 
" vulsed and desolated the island, leaving little more than one 
" million of wretched miserable beings to occupy this beautiful 
" and fertile country." 

When I learned that there were five-and-twenty licensed 
whiskey-shops in Killarney, I was not surprised to hear that one 
of the candlesticks had been stolen from the altar of the Roman- 
catholic chapel there. 

There is a noble school for catholic children at Killarney, 
When they are old enough to quit the seminary, they are ardent- 
ly sought after as servants, as well by protestant as catholic fami- 
lies, on account of the irreproachable conduct of those who have 
been educated there: this is one amongst many powerful instances 
which may be adduced, to prove that the great object of the Irish 
government ought to be the illumination of the minds of the 
lower orders, without aiming at firoselytism. Religion, let it em- 
brace whatever faith it may, and education, must inevitably create 
a love of social order ; superstition and ignorance must ever en- 
gender a spirit which is hostile to it. How many years are to roll 
away in storm and bloodshed, before this plain, but important, 
truth shall be admitted or acted upon ? 

The morning after our return from Dunloe Castle, we set off 
for the upper lake : it was still and serene, and the vapours hung 
upon the summits of the mountains in the most fantastic shapes. 
Below, every thing was clear and tranquil : I never before saw re- 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 243 

flection in the water so perfect; and the echoes, upon the bugle 
being blown, were remarkably distinct. We passed O'Donahue's 
prision, an insulated rock, which has been much fretted by the 
waves: tradition says that the prince of that name used to chain 
his rebellious subjects to it. I saw several rocks which had been 
so eaten through by the action of the air and water, that they pre- 
sented the appearance of dissected vertebrae. 

In Mucruss lake there is a rock exactly resembling a horse in 
the act of drinking. As every island in these lakes has some tra- 
ditionary history attached to it, and as there are no less than thir- 
ty-four islands, I will spare my reader the labour of attending to 
them. We doubled the point of Ross island, and, at a distance, 
saw the machines for working the copper-mines lately discovered 
there. 

Glenaa, always the great object of the lakes, and whom I had 
never contemplated before so closely, notwithstanding his spolia- 
tion, rose with uncommon majesty before us: upon his rocky and 
indented shores, the finest arbutus, or strawberry-trees, were in 
berry and blossom too ; whilst its southern side presented a varied 
covering of the tops of oak, ash, pine, birch-trees, and alder; 
white-thorn, yew, and holly, growing wild, and blending their dif- 
ferent greens with great luxuriance: here, a neat little cottage 
peeped upon us from some unexpected openings ; there, the smoke 
curling above the tree-tops, pointed to its concealment; whilst 
groups of grazing cattle enlivened the whole. From a solid 
detached rock, apparently without any soil, we remarked a yew- 
tree growing. In Russian Finland, I remember having seen 
several firs growing, without any vegetable mould, upon the tops 
of masses of granite ; they were supported by long fibrous roots 
which clasped the rock, and which I was able to overturn with 
ease. 

On account of the descent and rapidity of the current, we were 
pbliged to land at O'Sullivan's Punch-bowl, and whilst eight 
grenadiers of the Deny militia, with uncommon strength and ex- 
ertion, pulled the boat through a romantic gray bridge, called 
pld Weir-bridge, we roved through alleys of the finest holly and 



244 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

arbutus ; the fruit of the latter I found by no means unpleasant, 
The poor people eat it as a wild strawberry, which it resembles 
in size and colour, and a little in flavour: this beautiful shrub is 
said to flourish here as finely as at Nice and Province. The blos- 
som of the arbutus is shaped like a goblet, and the fruit nearly 
spherical : it is at first of a deep pale yellow, which deepens as it 
advances to ripeness, and is gradually succeeded by a rich scarlet. 
In size it equals the largest garden strawberry, and requires to be 
eaten with caution on account of its producing a lethargic effect ; 
and to ^qualify its juices, the country people generally drink a 
draught of water with it. The ancients admired the shade and 
fruit of this plant, which their poets, and amongst them Horace, 
have celebrated. 

In the mountains which surrounded us on all sides, the native 
red deer is frequently hunted. A short time before our visit a 
fawn had been taken ; its dam followed the huntsman from the 
mountain to the brink of the water, making the most piteous 
moanings: struck with the conduct of the « poor hairy fool," the 
sportsman set the young captive free, and away they bounded up 
the mountain together. 

I was often told that a low Irishman never gives a direct 
answer. I asked one of the fellows who were rowing us, whether 
the fruit of the arbutus was wholesome ? His answer was : " Not 
too wholesome^ your honour." 

After winding through the most enchanting scenery, we ap- 
proached the celebrated rock called the Eagle's Nest: from the 
water's edge it is half-way covered with wood ; from whence, to a 
stupendous height, a perpendicular rock of marble rises, marked 
with gray and yellow, and purple tints. Near the summit, in an 
opening, the eagle has long resided. Our bugleman was landed 
before us : the sound of his horn loudly reverberated from the 
rock, and awakened all the echoes of the neighbouring mountains, 
which died away, revived upon the ear, and finally expired in a 
wonderful manner. From the position in which some of us were 
placed, we heard the producing sound after the echo : a circum- 
stance which, if we had not most clearly ascertained, would no 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 245 

doubt be attributed to my being at that time in a land so celebra- 
ted for bulls, and would be classed with the celebrated declaration 
imputed to an Irishman, that when he asked this very echo how 
she did, the answer was: " And, Pat! I'm pretty well, I thank 
you." This phenomenon arose from our situation. We were very 
near the rock, from which we heard a loud reverberation, and 
the bugle in a fainter sound followed, the bugleman being placed 
at a considerable distance from us. A petararo was discharged, 
which produced a noise like a succession of peals of thunder, and 
had an awful and sublime effect. 

" Sound but another, and another shall, 
As loud as thine, rattle the welkin's ear, 
And mock the deep-mouth'd thunder." 

Some of our questions very strongly reminded me of some of 
those in Swift's witty, but severe poem, called " A gentle Echo on 
Women." 

Shefiherd. What must we do our passion to express ? 

Echo. Press. 
Shepherd, What most moves ■« omen when we them address ? 

Echo. A dress. 
Shepherd. W 7 hat must I do when woman will be kind ? 

Echo. Be kind. 
Shepherd. What must I do when woman will be cross? 

Echo. Be cross. 
Shepherd. If she be wind, what stills her when she blows? 

Echo. Blows. 
Shepherd. But if she bang again, still should I bang her? 

Echo. Bci7ig her. 

Roused by the discharge of our petararo, the sovereign of 
birds quitted his aerial nest, and flew round his rock with great 
majesty, as if, like the genuine bird of Jove, to enjoy the thunders 
of the echo. The mountain which runs from the Eagle's Nest to 
the upper lake is two miles in length, and, from its equal figure 
and inclination, is called the Great Range. Near the upper end 



246 . THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

of it is said to be the seat of the musical echo, a hollow bosom 
in the mountain, covered on all sides with trees. After pursu- 
ing our course by rocks of the most fanciful forms, some of 
which resembled men of war, some wholly naked, some richly 
clothed with arbutus and other shrubs, we entered the upper lake 
through a narrow passage, called Coleman's-eye, or Leap. Our 
helmsman, who belonged to the boats kept for the purpose of 
attending those who visit the lakes, and who most confidently 
believed in all the superstition of the place, said that a great giant 
leaped across this pass, and showed us some holes in one of the 
rocks to which he sprung, as the impression which his toes made 
upon his alighting. The names given to the surrounding objects 
are highly figurative, and are frequently changed according to 
the caprice or genius of the boatmen: some gloomy-looking 
mountains were called " the Drooping mountains." A herring- 
boat was once wrecked in the beautiful lake of Lough Earne, in 
which a fidler was drowned: the fisherman deprived the poor fel- 
low of a little posthumous celebrity, by calling the s,pot where he 
perished Herring island instead of Cremona's island, from a con- 
viction that the fish was better than music. Upon our entering the 
lake the bugle was sounded, which reverberated from shore to 
shore, softening upon every repetition, and terminating in the 
sweetest cadences, to inform the people, at a little cottage upon an 
island, that we were arrived, and that they might prepare for din- 
ner : after which we rowed round the eastern side of the lake, that, 
stretches from this point to the westward about a league, and in 
no part exceeds three-quarters of a mile in breadth : it has on its 
bosom a cluster of beautiful and finely wooded islands, and is 
encircled by rugged, stupendous, and most romantic mountains. 

After enjoying this scene, we proceeded to Ronan's island to 
dinner- A more beautiful spot I never beheld : it was formerly 
inhabited by the man whose name it bears, who, with the true gusta 
of sporting, spent ten years in it, for the gratification of using his 
rod and line in the lake during that period. A romantic little 
cottage, built for the public accommodation by lady Kenmare, to 
whose lord all the islands on the lakes, except Brickeen and Dinis, 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 247 

as Well as Glenaa, the Long Range, Cromiglaun, Derrycunihy, 
Point Prospect-hall to the river Flesk, belong, stood upon a rising 
kwn, encircled with rock : behind the cottage was a mount, cover- 
ed with the most beautiful shrubs growing wild. Lieutenant- 
colonel Heyland, with the experience of a travelled man, and with 
the hospitality of an Irish gentleman, brought with him in the boat 
every article for making an excellent dinner, having sent the day 
before to some peasants, who lived in the neighbouring mountains, 
to be at the cottage to dress the meat, Sec. Whilst the mountain- 
nymph was roasting our mutton, her husband came in ; a power- 
ful, good-humoured-looking fellow, who told us he had got three 
large wounds in his head at the last fair. At these meetings the 
people frequently divide themselves into what are called factions, 
and fight for love when the whisky mounts high into the brain. 
The reader will wonder when I tell him that pates thus broken 
are the most gratifying political signs imaginable. The rebellions 
in Ireland, like the hurricanes of the West-Indies, have been always 
preceded by an unusual calm; so much so, that, shortly after the 
year 1798, upon a gentleman, who lived in a town where a great 
fair was holding, and who knew the Irish character well, being 
asked how the people seemed disposed at the fair? he replied, 
u All was peace and quiet; for he had left them all fighting." 

From Ronan's island we saw the Stag island, its neighbour, 
crowded with young oak, arbutus, juniper, yew, holly, box, and 
ash, hanging over its rocky sides. On the east were several 
islands, bounded by the cliffs of Cromiglaun: on the west are 
M'Gilly, Cuddys, Ricks, called so in allusion to their conical 
shape, which take their rise from Ghirmeen, and encircling a 
considerable valley to the west of the lake, form an extensive 
amphitheatre. These mountains are very numerous, and broken 
into the most whimsical shapes : their brown barrenness has, at 
the distance which most of them are seen from, a grand but 
gloomy effect. They are well stocked with grouse, or, in the lan- 
guage of the natives, the hen of the heath : they furnish the lake 
with its principal supplies of water; a few poor cottagers procure 
a scanty subsistence upon the borders of its valley. In the north 



MS THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

the purple mountain, one of the great features of this scene, rises 
in a conical shape, and is tinctured with a deep indigo colour, 
arising in some degree from a sort of heath, which is not to be 
found in any other part of the country, that produces purple ber- 
ries ; but more from another herb, used in dyeing, probably the 
lichenoides saxatile foliis pilosis purpureis : it is much frequented 
by a bird so little known in Kerry, that it has no name assigned 
to it ; it is somewhat larger than a grouse ; its breast is red, the 
rest of its plumage a clear shining black, except the wings and 
tail, which are interspersed with white feathers : the mountain of 
Derrycunihy formed the southern border. The scenery of these 
lakes is ever new. Those vast clouds that are rolled together from 
the Atlantic ocean, unbroken until they touch the summits of the 
stupendous mountains that encompass this favourite spot of nature, 
tint every scene with endless varieties of light and shade. As the 
beholder dwells upon his object, although the outline remains un- 
altered, new characters arise, new beauties are unfolded. 

After a most excellent repast, the bugle blew a farewel sound, 

With which hill, dale, and valley rung! 

Evening and rain came on : full of delight, and somewhat 
" flushed with the Tuscan grape," we " shot" the Old Weir 
bridge, in one of the darkest of nights, and descended its fall. 
As we turned Ross island, upon the bugle sounding, the windows 
of the venerable castle became illuminated, to enable us to reach 
it, where we found our horses in waiting, and returned to Killar- 
ney, much gratified with our day's excursion. 

To have been sovereign of such un Arcadian retreat must 
have been truly enviable. The name of Donahue still sounds like 
royalty in the ear of the surrounding peasantry. The kings of 
Munster used to pay, as tribute to this prince and powerful chief- 
tain, ten dun horses, ten coats of mail, and ten ships. The rude 
and superstitious imagination of the peasantry still occasionally 
contemplates their royal idol, whose reign showered down bles- 
sings on their ancestors ; by the moon's pale beam they still see 
the good old king, mounted upon a milk-white horse, followed by 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 249 

a train of attendants. Such a vision is thought fruitful of every 
approaching happiness, and no one douhts the narrative. The de« 
scendant of this prince, a respectable country gentleman, is still 
approached with the respect due to great superiority. 

The weather setting in very rainy, and as I was pressed for 
time, I did not visit Mangerton ; a mountain in the neighbourhood, 
which is eight hundred and thirty -seven yards above the sea, from 
which all the mountains and lakes below appear expanded as in a 
map: this mountain, by the experiment of the barometer, has 
been found to be three thousand and sixty feet in perpendicular 
height. 

In the Derry militia, which was quartered at Killarney whilst 
I was there, I saw a complete refutation of the assertion that the 
Irish soldiers are shorter than the English. 

Before we quit Killarney, I cannot resist laying before my 
reader an instance of generosity and humanity with which he will 
be charmed, and which was displayed by the colonel of the very 
regiment I have mentioned. 

In the season of 1787, as the present lord Castlereagh, then 
Mr. Steward, was enjoying the pleasure of an aquatic excursion 
with his schoolfellow and friend, Mr. Sturrock, near Castle- 
Steward, the seat of his lords nip's father, the earl of London- 
derry, unaccompanied by any other person, a violent squall of 
wind upset the boat, at the distance of two miles at least from 
shore. Lord Castlereagh, who was an excellent swimmer, recol- 
lecting that Mr. Sturrock could not swim, immediately on the 
boat sinking directed his attention to his friend, swam to him, 
placed a piece of a broken oar under his breast, recommended 
him, with the most encouraging composure and presence of mind, 
to remain as long as he could on this piece of timber, and when 
fatigued to turn himself on his back, which he showed him how 
to effect by placing himself in that position. He continued swim- 
ming near his friend, occasionally raising his hands, in the hope 
that some one might discover their perilous situation. Mr. Stur- 
rock, father to the young friend cf lord Castlereagh, and Mr, 
Clealand, his lordship's tutor, had been looking at the boat pre r 



250 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

vious to the squall, which they had taken shelter from in a tem- 
ple in the gardens of Mount Steward. Upon the storm subsiding 
these gentlemen quitted the place, immediately missed the boat, 
and concluded that she was lost. Most providentially they found in 
the harbour a small boat, into which they sprung, with feelings 
which it would be in vain to describe, and after rowing with all 
their vigour for a mile and a half, they at last discovered, as the 
waves rose and fell, a hat, and not far from it a hand waving ; 
they redoubled their exertion, and came up to lord Castlereagh, 
who implored them not to mind him, but instantly to go to his 
companion. " Never mind me," said his lordship, " for God's sake 
" go to Sturrock, or he will be lost ; leave me, I think I can sup- 
" port myself till you return." They accordingly left him, and ar- 
rived at the critical moment when his young friend had just risen, 
after sinking the first time, and seizing him by his hair, they 
drew him quite senseless and exhausted into the boat — another 
minute, and all would have been over. They then returned to his 
lordship, and rescued him also. I leave the reader to imagine 
the alternate agony and joy which must have characterised the 
whole of this awful and impressive scene. 

I dined every day, when I was not upon the lakes, at the 
Deny mess, and had the pleasure of observing the fallacy of a 
prejudice which inseparably links the Irish gentleman to his bot- 
tle. I witnessed nothing but cordial welcome and perfect liberty 
and good-breeding. 

There is no regular posting to Cork ; the traveller must there- 
fore hire a chaise all the way, for which he will have to pay five 
or six guineas, at the discretion of the postmaster. I luckily met 
with a return Cork chaise, and made an agreement for two 
guineas. I found here, and at most of the inns, that the servants 
were thankful for what they received as a douceur. 

On the 17th of October I bade adieu to Killarney, in com- 
pany with an intelligent Irish officer, and set off for Mill- 
street, about twenty miles distant, which I do not see, although a 
good-sized town, indicated in Faden's Map of Ireland: the road 
is a cross one, and deplorably bad, and the country as dreary on 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 251 

that side of the lakes as I found the approach to them from Lime- 
rick. On our right, for a long way, we saw Gleena, the Turk and 
Mangerton mountains, which were succeeded by a chain of les- 
sening hills, upon the sides of which patches of stationary vapour 
rested in very singular forms. Upon the road we overtook pea- 
sants with horses carrying barrels of butter to Cork, secured as 
usual with ropes of hay. The cabins were generally thatched with 
potatoe stems, and had a very wretched appearance. On this side 
of Cork, tillage appeared to be much neglected, and as a natural 
consequence the population is very thinly scattered. 

The cows and cattle of this county (Kerry) are deformed from 
starvation ; but when the former are taken care of* they exhibit 
good symmetry ; and though very small, not weighing more than 
sixteen stone (14lbs. to the stone), give frequently as many quarts 
of milk at the two milkings. 

Ireland and humanity are greatly indebted to Mr. Foster for 
his wise extension of bounties on the exportation of corn, by which 
tillage has been extended, but pasturage seems to have kept 
almost equal pace with it ; the result however is, that they have 
both gained upon the waste lands, and the progressive increase of 
the former must call forth the energies and industry of the pea- 
santry : it is a melancholy fact, that the number of poor in Ireland 
who derive an abject subsistence from slender employment is very 
considerable. 

In the beginning of the rebellion of 1798, the number of cot- 
tiers who assembled at distant places of rendezvous, without being 
missed, I was assured, was very great ; otherwise it is to be pre- 
sumed that such a sudden vacancy would have excited alarm. So 
injurious is grazing to population and civilization, that the most 
wretched peasants in mind and body generally inhabit the most lux- 
uriant soil. Where the grass grows greenest, the face of the pea- 
sant is most sad. 

Doctor Priestly, in his Lectures, page 119, published in 1788, 
well observes: " The commodities whose price has risen the 
" most since before the time of Henry VII are butcher's meat, 
a fowls, and fish, especially the latter: and the reason why corn 



252 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

" was always much clearer in proportion to other eatables, accord- 
" ing to the .r prices at present, is, that in early times agriculture 
" was little understood. It required more labour and expense, and 
" was more precarious, than at present. Indeed, notwithstanding 
" the high price of corn in the times we are speaking of, the rais- 
" ing of it so little answered the expense, that agriculture was 
li almost universally quitted for grazing, which was more profita- 
" ble, notwithstanding the low price of butcher's meat: so that 
" there was constant occasion for statutes to restrain grazing, and 
" to promote agriculture ; and no effectual remedy was found till 
" the bounty upon the exportation of corn; since which, above ten 
" times more corn has been raised in this country (England) than 
« before.' 5 

That the population of Ireland has increased no one can doubt. 
Mr Whitelaw informs me that, from such observations as he has 
been able to make, from a few trials on a small scale, and from the 
observations of intelligent friends, he is induced to believe that it 
does not fall short of five millions, but does not exceed it, as some 
writers have asserted ; whilst others have confined it to three mil- 
lions only. I place great confidence in Mr. Whitelaw's statement. 

The relative proportion of square miles, and of population, 
between England and Ireland, is as follows : 

England contains 49,450 square miles. 

Ireland 27,457 ditto. 

England contains 9,343,578 persons; 

or 189 ditto to one square mile. 

Ireland contains 5,000,000 persons; 

or 182 l-10th to one square mile. 

I have already mentioned the difficulty of ascertaining the popu- 
lation of Ireland with accuracy. Sir William Petty, who wrote in 
the reign of Charles II, estimated the population of Ireland at 
one million only. His situation as physician to the army in that 
country, and his long residence there, must have afforded him 
tolerable opportunities of judging. The number who perished 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 253 

in the rebellions of 1798 and 1803 is supposed not to have exceed- 
ed twenty -thousand men ; but it must ever remain a matter of 
conjecture. The population of Ireland, and consequently its agri- 
cultural improvements, must have received severe checks at 
various eras. The war of 1641, which lasted eleven years, and the 
plague and famine which accompanied it, destroyed six hundred 
and eighty-nine thousand persons; and, in 1652, Dublin was 
obliged to import provisions from Wales ; and, about forty years 
since, corn to the amount of 380,000/. 

To no country under heaven has nature been more bountiful 
than to Ireland, and in few countries have her bounties been less 
tasted by those for whom they were destined. Her history pre- 
sents the gloomy picture of man opposing the happiness of man. 



254 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

CAUSES OF POPULATION POPULATION OF RUSSIA AND CHINA- 
LUXURY: ITS EFFECTS ENGLISH AND IRISH SOLDIERS MILL 

STREET RUSTIC CIVILITY— A BLESSING SINGULAR LITIGA- 
TION THE BLARNEY-STONE AND HAPPINESS CORK DESCRIB- 
ED -THE POOR REMARKS ON THE HOUSE OF INDUSTRY— 

FRENCHMAN'S EULOGIUM ON PORTER— PORTER BREWERIES 

PROVISION TRADE CATHOLICS METHODISTS HEARTH MO- 
NEY—MORE DROLLERY PERJURY. 

1 HE causes which promote population have been ably 
ascertained to consist in a mild and equitable government, abun- 
dance of food, frequency of marriage, a salubrious climate, favoura- 
ble to health, generation, and long life, to which I think the 
absence of English poor-laws may be added. Under these propiti- 
ous circumstances, population will double in less than twenty years. 
What would the population of Ireland have been, if her political 
happiness had been commensurate with her physical advantages? 
What may not such a country become in the space of twenty 
years, under the fostering care of a wise and benencient govern- 
ment? 

The retarding causes which affect the population of Russia, 
prevent it from doubling itself in less than forty-nine years. The 
amazing population of China has been attributed to the expenses 
attending the marriage state being so inconsiderable. A little rice, 
some raw cotton, or other materials, for clothing, and a couple of 
maps, form almost all the furniture of an ordinary. Chinese house. 
The lower orders of Chinese are, I believe, more wretched than 
the lower Irish. We are credibly informed, that thousands of 
families live perpetually in little fishing-boats upon the canals and 
rivers, and that they frequently subsist by fishing up the nastiest 
garbage thrown overboard from an European ship. In Ireland 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 255 

there are scarcely greater checks to marriage amongst the lower 
orders, than there are in the sexual intercourse of animals. If the 
condition of the Irish peasantry were improved, I do not see that 
population could suffer. 

Luxury is depopulating in its consequence, civilization not. 
The voluptuousness of the Roman empire wasted the population 
of Italy to a shadow. Industry made Holland what she lately was ; 
and the same spirit, and the progress of the arts and of knowledge, 
have powerfully conduced to render England what she is. Polyg- 
amy is known to be unfavourable to population ; for it has been 
with tolerable accuracy ascertained that, in almost every country, 
more men than women are born in the proportion of fourteen to 
thirteen, or of fifteen to fourteen. The low Irish are not only re- 
markable for their early marriage, but for the inviolate sanctity 
with which the marriage contract is kept; and hence, amongst 
other causes, the numbers and the health of the children which 
are crowded in every cabin. 

When our militia regiments were in Ireland during the rebel- 
lion, the numbers of the married men amongst the Irish regiments 
were astonishingly greater than those of the same description in 
the English regiments, to the no small and frequently jocose sur- 
prise of the Irish soldier. Sir William Petty well observes, that 
" Fewness of people is real poverty ; and a nation wherein are 
" eight millions of people, is more than twice as rich as the same 
" scope of land wherein are but four." Montesquieu quaintly calls 
population " une immense manufacture" I can confidently assert, 
that it is a manufacture well calculated to flourish in Ireland. 

I saw nothing in the road to Mill-street worthy of notice, but 
the object which suggested the few remarks before mentioned. 
The town is a long street, with several tolerable houses in it, and 
a barrack, where I dined with my intelligent companion and his 
amiable lady. The next morning I proceeded alone for the first 
stage, distant about twelve miles, over a most desolate mountainous 
country. Owing to the succession of mountains, and a very bad 
road, I was five hours in accomplishing this stage. I was inform- 
ed this road will speedily be improved, and that a mail is intended 



256 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

to run from Cork to Killarney, and thence to Limerick and Dub- 
lin. As I walked forward whilst my chaise was slowly climbing 
up a mountain, I took the wrong road : a peasant who had watch- 
ed me, ran after me, and put me right. I helped a peasant to re- 
mount his barrels of butter, the hay -ropes of which had given way. 
" Ah !" said the fellow, " may your honour live long, very long." 
At ten mile-house I was fortunate enough to meet with a fe- 
male companion, an intelligent, sprightly Irish girl, who had been 
educated at one of the convents at Cork, whither «she was going, 
and who relieved the dreariness of the road, by talking the Irish 
language, and singing some ancient Irish airs ; the former sound- 
ed very mellifluous, and the latter were very delightful. 

I found that a great sensation had been produced at Cork a 
short time before, by an action which had been brought by a catho- 
lic (a baker) of the name of Donovan, against his priest, the reve- 
rend Mr. O'Brien, vicar-general to Dr. Coppinger, titular bishop 
of Cloyne, and Roman catholic parish priest of Clonakilty, and 
tried at the assizes at Cork before the honourable judge Day, and 
a special jury. On the trial, it appeared that a subscription had 
been set on foot by the priest for the purpose of building a Roman 
catholic chapel : Donovan was directed to pay a quota of sixteen 
shillings and three-pence towards it, which he did. He was after- 
wards called upon to pay nine shillings more, which was also paid; 
but accompanied by a remark that he was very poor, and could 
not afford it. Upon a third demand of sixteen shillings being made 
upon him, the plaintiff absolutely refused to comply with it. On 
the following Sunday the priest denounced, from his altar, all 
those who had not paid their demands toward building the chapel : 
the plaintiff, still persisting, was excommunicated, and the people 
held execrated and contaminated if they should hold any commu- 
nication with him, and he was obliged to shut up his shop. The 
jury, composed equally of protestants and Roman catholics, gave 
a verdict against the priest with fifty pounds damages. This trial 
is of no little consequence to the community, in as much as it 
clearly exhibits that the influence of the catholic priest, armed 
with the terrible weapon of excommunication, is not so omnipo- 
tent over his flock as it is usually considered to be. 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 257 

About four miles before we reached Cork, on our left, my fair 
comfiagnon du -voyage pointed out to me Blarney castle, upon a tur- 
ret of which there is a stone which is very nearly inaccessibly and 
possesses, it is said, the rare virtue of making those for ever 
happy ivho touch it. 

As we approached Cork the view became very fine, the river 
Lee winding to the cove, a country on each side well cultivated, 
and dotted with villas : the city, its superb barracks, the Mardyke 
walk, extending a mile under the shade of elms, the new gaol, 
which has a noble appearance, and the shipping, presented an un- 
commonly rich, varied, and picturesque prospect. Cork is the se- 
cond city in Ireland, and if ships of above two hundred tons were 
not obliged to unload at Passage, five miles and a half from Cork, 
it would be one of the finest port towns in the world. In times of 
peace the flags of every nation may be seen waving in her har- 
bour, called the Cove, now protected by a fort, built on the 
great island below, commanding the haven, which is perfectly safe, 
and capable of affording complete protection to the whole navy of 
England from every wind that blows. Ships from England, bound 
to all parts of the West-Indies, put in here ; and in one year, in 
pacific times, no less than two thousand vessels have floated upon 
its bosom. 

In the city are three convents ; two of the order of the Presen- 
tation, devoted entirely to the instruction of poor female children, 
and one called the Ursuline, for the education of females in the 
higher ranks of life, but in which poor children are also sometimes 
instructed. 

The barracks are upon an immense scale, and very superb: 
they stand upon a rocky mountain, and command the city, and all 
the beautiful scenery of the surrounding country. The city stands 
upon several islands formed by the river Lee, which are hand- 
somely banked and quayed in. Several streets have been gained 
from the river, and are built like the Adelphi, upon arches: the 
shops are well supplied, and many of them are elegant. The 
Mardyke walk is very beautiful: from this spot I made a sketch 

3 K 



258 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

of the city. It ha* many very handsome houses, and the society is 
refined and elegant. 

Iir the centre of the parade, which is very spacious, there is 
an equestrian statue of George the second; it is of stone, and 
painted yellow, and has nothing belonging to it worthy of further 
notice. 

I saw a review of the military quartered in and near the city 
here, and never beheld finer men. An English officer of rank and 
family, who distinguished himself at the battle Arklow, informed 
me, what candour induces me not to suppress, that on a march the 
native troops of Ireland have frequently preceded the English by 
one mile in four miles. 

The poor of this city are very numerous, and bear a dreadful 
proportion to the population ; but this excess is met by an increased 
active and provident spirit of charity. Yet although there are 
many beneficent institutions, they are not adequate to shelter and 
support the many distressed objects of every province who flock 
to the city for relief. 

The most prominent institution in Cork for the relief of the 
poor is, " The Society for bettering the Condition and increasing 
the Comforts of the Poor." The next of general utility is the 
Friendly Society, to enable the poor labourers, by paying a small 
subscription monthly, whilst in health, to provide a sufficient sup- 
port for themselves in sickness, or old age, without dependence 
upon the uncertainty of charity. There is also a society, which 
holds out rewards for cleanliness to the poor; and another called 
the Charitable Loan, for lending small sums of money to those who 
can procure proper recommendations for industry, and which sums 
are after to be repaid, with or without interest. . Under the direc- 
tion of the committee of the Charitable Loan, is a fund for the re- 
lief and discharge of persons confined for small debts (under the 
appellation of Debtors' Charity). The Cork Coal Company was 
another useful institution for the poor, as it provided small quan- 
tities of coal, in time of scarcity, at a cheaper rate than the exor- 
bitant price of the article in some parts of the year would allow of. 
The North and South Infirmaries are institutions of very general 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 259 

utility, and well supported; but as several invalids may not be able 
when sick to atttend at them for advice, the Dispensary and Hu- 
mane Society was established, in order to afford relief, by the at- 
tendance of a skilful physician at the houses of such as could not 
conveniently attend at either of the infirmaries. The Benevolent 
Society was then established, to provide the means of subsistence 
for those under the care of the Dispensary, whose bad state of 
health deprived them of the produce of their own exertions. The 
house of recovery, established for the relief of people in fevers, 
and the prevention of contagion, claims a considerable degree of 
attention, whether viewed as to its consequence to society at large, 
or to the people afflicted with so perilous a disease. It is amply 
supported by subscription, and its utility has been generally felt 
and acknowledged. 

The Lying-in Hospital here at first did not answer, on account 
.of excited prejudice; it is now, however, in some degree of estir 
mation among the lower orders. Attached to the South Infirmary, 
a lock ward and a penitentiary house are now built, and wiil soon 
be. fit for the reception of reformed prostitutes. There is also a 
charitable repository. The mayor and sheriff's charity is an insti- 
tution that affords the sum of two hundred pounds per annum, in 
small sums, to aged or distressed freemen, towards their support. 
The Foundling Hospital is well supported by a tax on coals. 
There are also several Alms-houses. The Blue and Green-Coat 
Hospitals are established for the instruction of children re- 
commended by aldermen. There are also, in every parish, 
schools for the instruction of poor children. The Schools of In- 
dustry are very justly entitled to the support they meet with, 
where poor children are rescued from the fatal habits of idleness, 
beggary, and thieving, and are taught to read and write, and are 
made acquainted with such works as may habituate them to in- 
dustry, and enable them to provide for themselves, with advantage 
to society. 

The county and city house of industry at Cork is well worthy 
the notice of a traveller ; although the mixture of the objects of 
punishment and charity, within its pale, is objectionable, yet upon 



260 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND 

the whole it does honour to the humanity of the city. Against 
this mixture, which obtains almost in every large town and city in 
Ireland, except Dublin, too solemn a protest cannot be entered. The 
first objects which presented themselves were the vilest prostitutes 
of the city and incorrigible young offenders ; the former amounted 
to eighty-two, each of whom had a chain and log fastened upon 
one leg; they were without shoes or stockings, but that is no 
grievance, for in all human probability they never wore either, or 
only during the more fortunate vicissitudes of life ; but they were 
wretchedly clad, being allowed no prison dress, which, in my hum- 
ble opinion, upon the principles of humanity and even of justice, 
ought to be supplied : excepting a few of the other classes men- 
tioned, the rest in this division of the building were decayed house- 
keepers, male and female, amounting in all to two hundred and 
thirty-two persons. I found the charity and prison allowance libe- 
ral, consisting of meat, stirabout, milk, and potatoes, varied on dif- 
ferent days. In another part of the building I saw the idiots and 
insane, amounting to one hundred and eight; the former were very 
few ; the latter appeared to have every kind and soothing attention 
paid to them ; formerly they used to run about the streets unat- 
tended. The wards, though too confined, were remarkably clean; 
and there was not, as in England, that highly improper intercourse 
of convalescents with subjects of violent frenzy. This institution 
is supported by presentments, and charitable donations. 

The old gaol is a shocking place, having no yard, and the pri- 
soners looked very unhealthy; they were not ironed. I was sur- 
prised to find that they were not removed to the new prison, which, 
although not finished, had many apartments fit to receive them. 
This gaol is one of the finest I ever saw: only its guard, and bars 
and bolts, could have prevented me from mistaking it for a new 
and noble mansion. It stands a little way out of the city in a most 
healthy and beautiful situation. The passages and cells were spa- 
cious, secure, and healthy ; the arrangement of the building ap- 
peared to embrace every object which humanity could desire: it 
is capable of holding from five to six hundred prisoners. 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 261 

The inhabitants of this, like those of every other city, are dis- 
posed to exaggerate its population, which they estimate at nearly 
one hundred and twenty thousand ; but most of the Roman Catholic 
clergymen, and the resident physicians who have the best means 
of information, average it at about- one hundred thousand : the 
mode usually adopted of grounding the calculation upon the 
number of houses, is very fallacious, not only with respect to this, 
but every other city in the southern and western provinces, and 
generally throughout Ireland, where the poorer classes are com- 
pressed into a space which is shocking to humanity : in several 
lanes in Cork, the walls of a small wretched habitation, frequently 
enclose upwards of fifty persons. Limerick, and I am told Galway, 
exhibit similar instances of crowded population, and hence have 
arisen the gross errors of those who have formed their estimate 
of population upon the returns of the hearth-money and tax- 
gatherers. 

The population of Ccrk has increased five-fold since the reign 
of Charles the second, and has received, notwithstanding the 
counteractive effects of war, and the decline of manufactures in 
the south, an augment ition of at least ten thousand inhabitants 
within the space of ten years. 

A Frenchman, with much vivacity in his enthusiastic admira- 
tion of porter, called it, " La Creme de Londres." As the substi- 
tution of this wholesome beverage for spirituous liquors, is of so 
much consequence to the political and moral prosperity of Ireland ; 
and as the greatest and best quantity of Irish porter is brewed at 
Cork, the porter breweries there formed one of the earliest objects 
of my inquiry: there are four principal porter breweries, viz. 
Messrs. Beamish and Crawford's, Messrs. George and Andrew 
Drinan's, the River Lee Porter Brewery, under the firm of Leslie 
and Co., and Messrs. Gibbons and Carroll; there are also one or 
two inferior porter breweries : the principal ale breweries belong 
to Messrs. Reilly and Hadigan, and Cashman and Sons. 

I found it difficult to learn with accuracy the quantity of porter 
and ale annually brewed : the proprietors, of course, are not friendly 
to any information on their own consumption, as it would lead to 



262 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

a knowledge of the real extent and consequence of their business : 
the only resource in this case is to calculate from the quantity of 
malt, for which duty has been paid at the excise-office, by the por- 
ter brewers of this city ; combining this information, which has 
been obtained with great difficulty, with the quantity used at each 
brewing, and the brewing oi each week, together with the in- 
creasing demand, and the present home and export consumption, 
the average annual quantity of porter brewed in this city cannot 
be less than one hundred and forty thousand tierces. 

The Irish are naturally proud of saying that the Cork porter 
is exported to England ; this exportation, However, is very trifling ; 
but the export to the West-Indies and America is considerable. 
From an average taken for three years from the custonwiouse 
books, the annual export is nearly two thousand tierces. 

The price of porter to the retailer is one pound seventeen shil- 
lings and elevenpence per tierce, exclusive of the cask, for which 
a deposit ot sixteen shillings and threepence is left until returned ; 
but as there are many allowances made to customers, the average 
price may be reduced to thirty-three shillings per tierce. I have 
been a little prolix upon this subject, but I trust the importance 
of it to Ireland will plead my excuse. 

In consequence of the silver tokens being inadequate to the 
wants of trade, the small silver bank-notes, although declared ille- 
gitimate, continue clandestinely to circulate: as they are much 
defaced, it is to be hoped they will be speedily and Anally with- 
drawn. There are five private banks in tins city, the collective cir- 
culation of which amounts to upwards of eight hundred thousand 
pounds! but such are the character, property, and experience of 
the gentlemen belonging to these banks, that the public mind is 
perfectly at ease upon the subject of so large a responsibility: 
there are two or three minor banks in the small adjacent towns, 
which may increase the entire circulation of the county to a million. 

As Cork is remote from the capital, the paper of these banks 
is naturally preferred to the notes of the bank ol Ireland, on account 
of the facility of ascertaining the forged and genuine signatures, 
by a direct application to the banks from which they purport 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 263 

to be issued. It is with great pleasure that I learned that those 
abominable notes, called Shopkeeper's IO's, are entirely abolished. 

Cork exports more beef, tallow, hides, butter, fish, and other 
provisions, than Belfast, Waterford, or Limerick; her other ex- 
ports are linen cloth, pork, calves, lambs, rabbit-skins, wool for 
England, linen, and woollen yarn and worsted. The slaughtering 
season commences in September, and continues to the latter end 
of January, during which time it has been computed that no less 
than one hundred thousand head of black cattle have been killed 
and cured. 

The provision-trade has not been carried on for these last three 
or four years with the same spirit, and to the same extent, as for- 
merly, owing in a great measure to the business having become 
more general in the other sea-ports of Ireland than before : yet a 
much larger quantity of provision was made up in Cork last season 
than the year preceding; but if it be considered that the greater 
portion was intended for the use of government, and that the price 
of cattle has been much too high in proportion to the prices allowed 
by government for the manufactured provisions, it may easily be 
inferred that the trade could not be very productive to those con- 
cerned. 

The union has not as yet produced any visible effects upon the 
trade of Cork ; but, from the best information I could procure, it 
is expected that in time that great political measure will be followed 
by salutary consequences to Cork. 

The price of land in the neighbourhood of this city varies from 
three pounds to ten pounds per acre of English statute measure. 

Upon the banks of the river, and towards the harbour's mouth, 
on account of the convenience for bathing, the land, without being 
rich, is very high in value. Within these last ten years rent has 
tripled: the price of labour in this part of Ireland has advanced 
greatly within these few years; but the comforts of the lower 
orders have not " grown with its growth," in consequence of the 
prices of the necessaries of life keeping equal pace with the ad- 
vance of wages, which in these parts are now from sixteen pence 
to eighteen pence per day. 



264 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

Tillage in the immediate neighbourhood of Cork, and in the 
southern parts of the country, has been latterly much promoted, 
in consequence of the breweries and distilleries consuming such 
an immense quantity of barley and oats, whilst the large quantity 
of wheat and flour used in the market, both for home consumption 
and export, has greatly excited the farmers to the cultivation of 
the former. The rigorous exaction of the hearth-money tax has 
been much complained of amongst the poor, but as the legislature 
is about to annul it, all farther comment would be unnecessary. 

The relative proportion of catholics to protestants in this and 
in all the cities of Munster, is full four to one ; in the interior of 
the country it is ten to one ; almost all the common people are of 
the first description, as well as the respectable merchants of the 
city. 

Under the term protestants are comprehended all separatists 
from the catholic communion : the established church in this part 
of Ireland has very few followers ; the methodists, on the contrary, 
are rapidly increasing. 

It is with uncommon satisfaction that I am enabled to state, 
from indubitable authority, that, with an exception to the oppressive 
case of Donovan before stated (a solitary instance), the catholic 
clergy in this city, and throughout the province, are, by their pub- 
lic and private virtue and deportment, eminently entitled to the 
thanks and admiration of the government. In the discharge of 
their high avocations, they have laboured to remove the prejudices 
of the poor and unenlightened catholic, have placed his religious 
happiness on the side of his social duties, and united his faith to 
the repose of his country. Since the unfortunate era of 1798, the 
tranquillity of Cork has been remarkable. 

Although catholic landholders in this country are not very nu- 
merous at present, as the character of the city is purely commer- 
cial, no doubt the catholic landed interest will be much extended, 
by catholics investing their fortune in future in the purchase of 
land. 

In the course of my rambles I was attracted by a crowd upon 
some steps, and found that the quarter-sessions were holding. I 






THE STRANGER IN IRELAND, 265 

entered a dismal hall, where an assistant barrister presided: the 
same merry noise and confusion prevailed here as at Killarney. I 
found a wild Irishman, a facetious fellow, upon the table, seated in 
a chair, and under examination, attended by an interpreter. 
" D'ye know," said the examining solicitor (who officiated as coun- 
sel) " the traversers in the dock?" " And plaze you, I know them 
<* both by what I have heard" was the answer. (A loud laugh.) 
The following question produced one of the most favourite figures 
of speech amongst the low Irish: "Well, sir, did he confess at 
" all ? Answer — plaze your honour, he would not confess a 
u ffa'/iorth" — i. <°. the worth of a halfpenny. " I know you well," 
said one of the jury to another witness. " Oh, plaze you," said the 
witness, " you never knew me but out of honesty." (Another 
laugh.) This fellow contradicted himself many times, but always 
with so much humour, that the gravest judge could scarcely have 
preserved a due solemnity of face. So naturally disposed are the 
lower orders to drollery, that I found perjury, if it had any thing 
of humour in it, seemed to be stripped of all its culpability. The 
government has acted wisely in appointing gentlemen regularly 
bred to the law,' to preside in these courts, who are capable, by 
habits of investigation, of discovering the truth, however deeply 
concealed, and who know the genius and condition of the people 
thoroughly. Amidst all this facetious prevarication, and smiling 
confusion, I was assured from very good authority, and in the 
causes to which I fixed my attention I found it to be so, that justice 
was fairly administered: at the same time I think, the amelioration 
of the lower people demands, that wherever a perversion of truth, 
under the solemn obligation of an oath, appears, however calculated 
by attendant specious wit and humour to disarm severity, it ought 
to excite the strongest animadversion of the bench ; which, I am 
convinced, from the uncommon acute sensibility of the lower peo- 
ple, would speedily cover the crime with ignominy. 

The Bridewell is an old building: I found it clean, and 
occupied only by two refractory apprentices. The market for fish, 
meat, and vegetables, is admirably constructed and profusely 
supplied. The Irish excel us in the architectural arrangements of 

2L 



266 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND 

these buildings. Provisions were as under: the best beef and 
mutton at four pence per lb. a couple of ducks one shilling, a 
turkey half-a-crown, and a hare six pence. In the shambles I met 
the mayor, distinguished by a cocked hat and golden chain, 
actively engaged in preventing frauds, and preserving order. For 
the support of this office, five hundred pounds per annum is 
appropriated out of the city revenues, amounting annually to three 
thousand pounds. The civil government of the city is vested in 
this magistrate, a recorder, and sheriffs. Cork is also the see of a 
bishop, who has a palace here. There is a small neat theatre, but 
there were no performers when I was in the city. At the great 
cattle-fairs, no woman with a red cloak is permitted to appear; 
a regulation which arose from the following very extraordinary- 
circumstance, which a gentleman of great respectability assured 
me was true. At a great cattle fair in this county a herd of oxen 
was so frightened by the red cloak of an old woman, that they ran 
off with the greatest fury, and descended a slope of ground with 
such velocity, as to break down part of the park wall of a nobleman. 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND, 267 



CHAPTER XIX. 

MORE FIGURATIVE EXPRESSIONS KILKENNY THEATRICALS- 
VERSES KILKENNY DESCRIBED THE COLLEGE— CO ALS 

CAVALRY AND PIKEMEN HUMOUR OF CHAISE DRIVERS THE 

CANAL-BOAT MOIRA HOUSE THE BELL THE LETTER AND 

IRISH DRAGOON ST. VALORI THE LATE DEAN KIRWAN 

HIS ELOQUENCE EFFICACIOUS BRIEF AND BEAUTIFUL EX- 
TRACTS FROM HIS SERMONS. 

I SET off for Kilkenny, and in my way passed through 
some portions of rich hilly country, chiefly in pasture. The views 
were frequently very extensive and picturesque. The cabins were 
very wretched in general ; but in some places, by their neatness, 
evidently displayed that there are proprietors who feel the justice, 
as well as the policy, of making their tenantry happy. 

" Arrah, by my shoul !" said one peasant to another, as I was 
walking up one of the hills of Tipperary, " he (speaking of a 
rich avaricious farmer) " is worth two thousand pounds to my 
" knowledge ; but I would not nail up, a peach-tree with his clothes ." 
At Kilkenny I found quite a jubilee-bustle in the streets, and 
elegant equipages driving about in all directions. The annual 
theatricals of this delightful little town had attracted a great num- 
ber of fashionables from Dublin and the surrounding country. 
These dramatic amusements, varied by races, balls, and concerts, 
are supported by gentlemen of rank and fortune, for the purpose 
of converting the result of a highly intellectual and social gratifi- 
cation into a permanent source of relief for those who are sinking 
under want and misery: to the eternal honour of Ireland be it 
spoken, that this sentiment is a prevailing one. The character of 
an Irish gentleman may be described in these words, gaiety and 
generosity. The theatricals of Kilkenny last about a month, and 
at the end generally leave a balance, after deducting the expenses 



26B THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

of the house, dresses not included, of two hundred pounds, which 
is applied to charitable purposes : one hundred and forty pounds 
have been received in one night. The theatre, which is the pri- 
vate property of the gentlemen who perform, is small and elegant, 
and the whole, except the back of a gallery, is laid out into boxes, 
the admission to which is six shillings. Over the proscenium of 
the stage is written the following elegant and expressive motto, 
from the pen of general Taylor : " Whilst we smile, we soothe 
affliction." I saw Henry the Fourth performed: the principal 
characters were admirably supported, and the dresses were un- 
commonly superb. Lord Mountjoy appeared one night in a dress 
valued at eight thousand pounds. The female performers were 
engaged from the Dublin stage. The house was crowded, and 
enabled me to speak with confidence of the beauty and elegance 
of the higher orders of Irish ladies. The principal characters at 
these theatricals are supported by Mr. R. Power, Mr. Lyster, 
Mr. R. Langrishe, Lord Mountjoy, &c. These theatricals sug- 
gested the following lines : 

Amid the ruins of monastic gloom, 

Where Nore's translucent waters wind along", 

Genius and wealth have rais'd the tasteful dome, 
Yet not alone for Fashion's brilliant throng. 

In Virtue's cause they take a nobler aim : 
'Tis theirs in sweetest harmony to blend 

Wit with compassion, tenderness with fame ; 
Pleasure the means, beneficence the end. 

There, if the tear ©n Beauty's cheek appears, 
(Form'd by the mournful Muse's mimic sigh) 

Fast as it falls, a kindred drop it bears, 
More sadly shed for genuine misery. 

Nor, if the laughter-loving Nymph delight, 
Does the reviving transport perish there ; 

Still, still with Pity's radiance doubly bright, 
Its smiles shed sunshine on the cheek of Care- 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 269 

So if Pomona's golden fruit descend, 

Shook by some breeze, into the lake below; 

Quick will the dimple which it forms extend, 
Till all around the joyous circles flow. 

Blest be the reas'ning mind, the social zeal, 
That here bids Folly from the stage retire; 

And while it teaches us to think, to feel, 
Bids us in tears our godlike bard admire. 

Thus aided, see his rescued genius spring, 

Again he pours the frenzy of his song, 
With every feather in his eagle's iving, 

Once more in majesty he soars along. 

Oft deck'd with smiles, his spirit shall explore, 
Erin ! thy beauteous vales, and classic ground, 

And every ripple of thy winding Nore 

To him shall sweetly, as his Avon's, sound. 

Ormond castle, formerly the principal seat of the dukes, now 
of the earl of Ormond, is a noble ancient mansion. I was princi- 
pally struck with the two vast unequal round towers which flank 
the entrance : the stables, which are on the opposite side of the 
road, are very fine. In the great gallery of the castle, which is 
nearly as long as the whole length of the building, I saw some 
' good paintings; those which struck me most were, Charles I. and 
the earl of Strafford, by Vandyke, and a head of lady Amelia 
Nassau, countess of Ossory, who, if the portrait was a faithful one, 
must have been a most beautiful woman. I made a sketch of the 
back part of this castle from the bridge over the river Nore. The 
cathedral, a fine old gothic structure, and its round tower, are well 
worthy of notice ; as are the ancient ruins of three old monasteries 
called St. John, St. Francis, and the Black Abbey. The windows 
of the Black Abbey are very curious. The counties of Limerick, 
Tipperary, and Queen's-county, abound with more antiquities 
than any other part of Ireland. 

At the top of the town there is a very handsome asylum for 
twenty decayed female housekeepers, which has been recently 



J 



270 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

endowed by Mr. Switser out of a noble fortune created by busi- 
ness. Each of the objects of his charity is allowed a very com- 
fortable room, coals, candles, and ten pounds a year. The walks 
along the sides of the river Nore are singularly beautiful, from 
which the college of Kilkenny has a very pleasing appearance. 
This college was founded by the great James duke of Ormond in 
the year 1682, and endowed by him with the annual sum of one 
hundred and forty pounds, to be paid yearly out of the Ormond 
estate, until his grace should have allocated lands for the purpose 
to the same amount, which his death prevented. The school is 
regulated by twenty -four rules, or statutes, which were signed by 
his grace, and regularly transmitted from master to master. The 
presentation was originally in the Ormond family; but, in case of 
failure of male issue, it was to devolve to the provost and senior 
fellow of Trinity college, Dublin, and ever after to continue so : 
they in consequence presented the three last masters. There are 
three visitors appointed by the statutes, whose duty it is to inspect 
the house, &c. the master's conduct, and management of the in- 
stitution: these are the provost of Trinity college, the bishops of 
Ossory and Ferns. On the day of their intended visitation, the 
master is entitled to a.fat buck from his grace's next park for their 
entertainment: the buck is regularly given by the earl of Ormond. 
There are, in general, two or three classical teachers besides the 
principal, exclusive of masters in writing, French, drawing, music, 
and dancing. The number of students seldom have exceeded 
seventy : forty or fifty of whom are boarded in the house, the 
remainder are day -scholars. It is liberally and wisely open to youths 
of all religious descri/itions, either as boarders or otherwise. The old 
house having fallen greatly into decay, the present edifice was 
erected in the year 1784, at the expense of five thousand pounds 
granted by parliament. A considerable military force is garrison- 
ed here. In this town the Brehon law was formerly abolished, in 
a parliament holden here in the 40th Edward III, under Lionel 
duke of Clarence* the then lieutenant of Ireland. At the time of 
the conquest of Ireland the Irish were governed by this law, which 
was traditionary. 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 271 

I was informed that a protestant school is about to be raised 
by subscription. After receiving the most polite and friendly at- 
tention from general Taylor, the then commanding officer of the 
district, whose noble spirit of patriotism, displayed in an annual 
volunteer contribution towards defraying the expenses of prose- 
cuting the war, is, I believe, unequalled throughout the empire, I 
left Kilkenny, and took the post-chaise diligence for Athy, where 
I intended to vary the tour, by returning to Dublin by the canal- 
boat, which proceeds from the former town. The posting from 
Cork to Dublin is uninterrupted, and th.: roads excellent. 

Our first stage to Castlecomer, about ten miles, lay over a 
mountainous and pleasant country, close to which are the pits 
from which the Kilkenny coal is taktn. This coal makes no 
smoke, and when completely ignited resembles a mass of melted 
glass. This coal and that of the county of Tipperary, are carried 
to very distant places. There is a great deal of coal in Ireland, 
sufficiently abundant to supply it with fuel, were all the turf bogs 
in the country to be drained. The produce of the collieries of Bal- 
lycastle and Fairhead, in the county of Antrim ; of Drumglass and 
Coal island, in the county of Tyrone, have very much reduced the 
importation of British coal into the populous and manufacturing 
province of Ulster. An able engineer, in evidence given at the bar 
of the house of commons in 1783, declared that the collieries at 
Lough Allen, in the county of Leitrim, alone, if properly worked, 
were adequate to supply the whole island with coals. The use of 
coal in Ireland, from the appearance of the Ballycastle coal-mines, 
must have been very ancient. It appears that sea-coal was first 
tried in London in the reign of Edward I, and was immediately 
prohibited, from a hasty opinion that the vapour was prejudicial 
to health. 

Castlecomer still retained many visible marks of its melan- 
choly fate during the rebellion of 1798, when it was nearly reduced 
to ashes. The subject of the rebellion leads me here to observe, 
that I learned from many military officers who were actively en- 
gaged in suppressing it, that they clearly purchased the conviction 
of the inutility and folly of opposing cavalry to pikemen. 



272 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

The grounds of the dowager lady Ormond, upon whose estate 
are the coal-pits, are finely wooded and very beautiful. On our 
road to Castlecomer the off-horse proved to be the most vicious 
animal I ever beheld: his hinder legs were frequently within an. 
inch of our driver's head, who at every plunge, with perfect com- 
posure, striking him on his rear, exclaimed, " And by the plague 
" what has got hold of you now, why can't you be aisy ?" All his 
blows were as much lost upon the animal, as in Frederic the 
great's opinion misfortunes are upon Frenchmen. 

A few years since it was customary, instead of having a regu- 
lar driver, for the master of a chaise to bargain with the first boy 
who was passing by to drive it ; and when the horses were about 
to start, it was usual for the ostler to come up to the door, and ask 
for something " for having put the little lum/i of a boy on the out* 
" side of the horse." 

When a celebrated English comedian was going to dine a few 
miles from Dublin, the horse of the jingle sprung and rose on his 
hinder legs most furiously, upon which he called the driver to stop 
and let him get out. " Oh, your honour, don't be alarmed," ex- 
claimed the fellow, " by my shoul the mare is only a little bashful, 
" it is the first time she ever was in harness." 

The drive to Athy, our next stage of thirteen miles, was ex- 
tremely pleasant: the town, which is handsome, stands in a delight- 
ful situation on the river Barrow. In the twelfth century there were 
two monasteries founded here, one for Dominican, and the other 
for Crouched friars, for the supplying of which with necessaries, 
the present town is said to have originated. The? gaol, which 
stands upon the end of the bridge, is called White's castle, which 
was erected by a celebrated chieftain of Mullamast, to repel the 
incursions of O'Kelley, the ancient chieftain of the county of 
Kildare. This town and Naas are the alternate assize towns. Upon 
the canal I found the boat nearly ready, and precisely as the clock 
struck one, the towing horse started, and we slipped through the 
water in the most delightful manner imaginable, at the rate of 
four miles an hour. The boat appeared to be about thirty -five feet 
long, having raised a cabin, its roof forming a deck to walk upon- 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 273 

The cabin was divided into a room for the principal passengers, 
having cushioned seats and windows on each side, and a long table 
in the middle, and into another room for the servants of the vessel 
and pantry: the kitchen was in the steerage. From Athy to Dub- 
lin by water is forty-two miles ; and the setting off and arrival of 
the boats are managed with great regularity : the passage money 
is ten shillings and ten pence. The day was very fine, and the com- 
pany very respectable and pleasant. We had an excellent dinner on 
board, consisting of a leg of boiled mutton, a turkey, ham, vege- 
tables, porter, and a pint of wine each, at four shillings and ten 
pence a head. We crossed the river at Munstereven, which I have 
described. Our liquid road lay through a very fine country, adorned 
with several noble seats. The opening of the ascending locks 
having all the effect of a fine cascade, gradually raising us from a 
dark abyss of embankments of masonry on each side, and of waters 
roaring upon us in front, to the light of day, and to a tranquil level 
with a rich and fertile country, was to me inexpressibly delightful. 
We slept at Robertstown, where there is a noble inn belonging to 
the canal company, and before day-light set off for Dublin, where, 
after descending a great number of locks, and passing through a 
long avenue of fine elms, we arrived about ten o'clock a. m. All 
the regulations of these boats are excellent. I was so delighted 
with my canal conveyance, that if the objects which I had in view 
had not been so powerful, I verily think I should have spent the 
rest of my time in Ireland in the Athy canal-boat. 

Upon my return from the south, I had the honour of being 
introduced to- the venerable countess of Moira, a lady who, for 
upwards of fifty years, has been the generous and ardent patro- 
ness of genius and learning in Ireland ; and who, by the powers of 
an elegant and capacious understanding, by the profundity of her 
knowledge and the extent of her attainments, has ably and copi- 
ously augmented the valuable store of refined information, and 
added the graces of mind to the lustre of a royal origin. The 
town residence of her ladyship is at Moira house, the ancient 
family mansion, at the west end of the city, on Usher's island, 
where I had the felicity also of meeting lady Charlotte, Rawdon. 

2 M 



274 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

the^engaging sweetness of whose manners is only equalled by the 
purity of her heart and the variety of her accomplishments. I 
much regretted that my time would not admit of my visiting cas- 
tle Forbes, to pay my respects to lady Granard, another daughter 
of the countess of Moira, of whom, as well as of her lord, report 
awakened the strongest desire of the honour of being personally 
known to them. 

Moira house is the rendezvous of the most distinguished men 
of Ireland. It was here that I had an apportunity of witnessing 
the colloquial talents of that surprising man Curran, whose wit, 
like the electric fluid, illuminates whatever it touches ; the highly 
poetical translator of Dante, the Rev. Henry Boyd, and several 
other persons less known to fame, but eminent for their talents 
and respectability. 

In the dining-room I was shown a very ancient bell, to which 
I have alluded in a former part of this work ; of its history very 
little is known, but it became highly interesting to me, from its 
having been used some years since at the funeral of a very old 
man in the north of Ireland, a tenant in the family of the last 
lord Moira, in honour of his being the parent of a soldier, who 
perished in the service of his country in the following gallant and 
memorable manner: This man, an Irishman, whose name was 
Lavery, was a dragoon in the seventeenth regiment, and served 
under the command of the late marquis Cornwallis, then lord 
Cornwallis, in America, by whom he was sent with a letter to an 
officer, quartered at a distant post, who had not the key of the 
cypher. On account of the great importance of the dispatches, 
the dragoon was directed to destroy it in case of being attacked 
by the enemy ; and to facilitate the destruction of it in case of 
necessity, the communication was written upon fine silver paper, 
and rolled up in a very small compass. In his way the soldier 
was unexpectedly fired upon from an ambuscade^ and fell from 
his horse, mortally wounded in the belly : the men who had fired 
at him immediately rushed forward, upon which the poor fellow, 
fearful that they would discover his intention if he attempted to 
put the letter into his mouth, thrust it into his wound, knowing that 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 275 

the blood would make it illegible. After having rifled him of his 
accoutrements and what little property he had, the enemy left 
him, when soon afterwards he was discovered and conveyed to a 
neighbouring house, the inhabitants of which were favourably dis- 
posed to the English, where with his dying breath he requested 
them to tell lord Comwallis by what means he had prevented the 
enemy from seeing the letter. 

The weather continuing very fine, I had the pleasure of mak- 
ing a visit to W. Cooper Walker, Esq. of St. Valori, near Bray. 
St. Valori is a beautiful spot ; how can it be otherwise, when it is 
within the region of the Dargle ? The owner of this lovely place 
is well known to a large circle of friends for the excellence of his 
heart, and to the world for the learned and elegant literary pro- 
ductions with which he has gratified it. A variety of knowledge, 
ancient and modern, a long residence in Italy, a correspondence 
with the most distinguished literary men of the age in various 
parts of the world, a felicity of temper, and a resignation to the 
hand of heaven, enable this elegant scholar to support a long and 
frequent visitation of sickness with perfect serenity. He has thus 
modestly but forcibly depicted himself and his sequestered retreat 
in his highly interesting Historical Memoirs on Italian Tragedy. 
" Soon after my arrival in my native country, ill health obliged 
" me to retire from the busy hum of men, and I sunk into rural 
« seclusion in a verdant valley, watered by a winding river at the 
" foot of a range of lofty mountains : here I summoned round 
" me the swans of the Po and the Arno, and whilst I listened to 
« their mellifluous strains, time passed with an inaudible step ; 
" but though I no longer sighed after the society which I had 
" abandoned, I felt an ardent desire to increase its stock of 
" harmless pleasures." 

The following beautiful lines were addressed to him by that 
extraordinary, early, but unfortunate genius Dermody, the Chat- 
KTton of Ireland : 



276 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND, 

'Tis thine with fond research to trace 

The shrinking river's latent vein ; 
From dust to dig th' imperial face, 

Or raise to light the lofty strain. 

Then like the bee full fraught return, 

Instruction pour from wisdom's urn, 
And bid the Alban graces smile, 

On lost jfuverna's barren isle. 

Oh ! couldst thou from some gentle shade, 

Retrieve the lost, the priceless page, 
The depths of elder time invade 

And brighten blank oblivion's age ! 

The wish is vain: what taste can do, 
What elegance with sense combined; 

Thy learned toil shall bring to view, 
And nourish the abstracted mind- 
Near St. Valori I saw an ancient cross ; it was supposed to 
have been removed from the glen of Bullyman, where there for- 
merly was a church. It once stood in the centre of the field, on 
that side where it now stands, but the devotion of the passengers 
so often induced them to break down the fence, in order to ap- 
proach it, that it was thought prudent to remove it to the road- 
side, where it has remained ever since. Between this cross and 
St. Valori there are the ruins of the castle of Fossero, which once 
p-uarded this pass into the mountains. I made a sketch of the en- 
trance of the Dargle, from one of the lower walks of St. Valori; 
nothing cpulcl be more beautiful than the river, which 



leads you on 



To the extreme bound, 

Of a fair flowery meadow, then at once 

"With quick impediment, 

Says stop, adieu, for now, yes now, I leave you. 

Then down a rock descends. 

There as no human foot can follow further, 

The eye alone must follow him, and there 

In little space you see a mass of water, 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 277 

Collected in a deep and fruitful vale, 
With laurel crowned and olive, 
With cypress, oranges and lofty pine3 : 
The limpid water in the sun's bright ray, 
A perfect crystal seems. 

The mountains that rise behind this entrance of the Dargle 
are called the two Sugar-loaves : to the lesser one the Eiuffch 
gave the name of the Gilt-spur hill. The English settlers in .this 
neighbourhood destroyed every trace of the Irish language, and 
left nothing but the brogue behind. The conversation at St. Yalori, 
amongst many interesting subjects, reviewed the native prompti- 
tude of the low Irish, when one of the party said that a gentleman 
of his acquaintance one day tried to puzzle a common bog-cutter 
with the following question : " How far, my good man, is it from 
Mullingar to Michaelmas?" — " As far," said the fellow, " as from* 
Whitsuntide to the ace of spades!" 

The very recent death of dean Kirwan, one of the greatest 
devotional orators that ever appeared since the days of Massil- 
Ion, did not fail to engage the most sympathizing attention. This 
great man, from the cradle, laboured under a weakness of consti- 
tution, which conducted him to the grave in the prime of life, and 
in the full zenith of those powers which the Divine Author of his 
being had bestowed upon him for the purpose of unfolding His 
glorious attributes, and unlocking the copious streams of charity. 

This enlightened minister raised nearly sixty thousand pounds 
by the influence of his sermons alone : a single discourse has fre- 
quently been followed by a collection of one thousand pounds. 
In pleading the cause of the wretched, he spoke as with the 
tongue of inspiration. Frequent were the instances of his hearers 
emptying their purses, and borrowing more from those who sat 
near them for the purpose of enlarging their donation. Reserving 
himself for charity sermons alone (which were, from good policy, 
rare), unfortunately I did not hear him; but I was informed that 
his tone and manner were singularly impressive and commanding, 
His sermons, which were extemporaneous, are not published, and 
with infinite difficulty I procured some sentences which were 



278 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

taken in short hand, and for which precious fragments I am 
indebted to the ardent zeal of a reverend admirer of his : they 
will enable the reader to judge of the superior eloquence of his 
style. 

HUMAN VANITY. 

" Insects of the day that we are ! hurried along the stream of 
'< time that flows at the base of God's immutability, we look up 
" and think in our schemes and our pursuits to emulate his eter- 
^ nity." 

INFLUENCE OF EXAMPLE. 

" It is the unenvied privilege of pre-eminence, that when the 
" great fall, they fall not by themselves, but bring thousands along 
" with them, like the beast in the Apocalypse bringing the stars 
« with it." 

RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 

" I will now more immediately call your attention to the in- 
K stitution for which I have undertaking to plead. The principle 
" which forms its ground-work is, I am glad to inform you, of 
" the most liberal and expanded nature. Children of all religious 
" persuasions may be educated without any attempt on the part 
" of their governors to instil sentiments contrary to the judgment 
"and choice of their parents: — such perfect religious liberty 
" must ever recommend similar establishments to men of enlarg- 
" ed ideas, who, (be their own mode of worship what it may) will 
" always unite in their support upon the broad and generous 
" ground of philanthropy alone. Philanthropy , my friends, is of 
" no particular sect ; it is confined by no paltry form of rule ; it 
" knows no distinction Jut that of the happy and unhappy: it is older 
" than the gospel, eternal as that great source from whence it 
" springs, and often beats higher in the heathen's breast, than 
" in those of many who are called christians ; who, though under 
" the influence of the most benevolent of all possible systems, 
" yet not unfrequently refuse both relief and compassion to the 
" petitions of the wretched, and the entreaty of the unhappy- God 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 279 

w forbid that the genuine feelings of the heart were confined to 
" to this or that mode of faith ! God forbid that any ridiculous 
" prejudice should hinder me from reverencing the man (how- 
" ever we may differ in speculative notions) whose gentle spirit 
" flies out to soothe the mourner ; whose ear is attentive to the 
" voice of sorrow ; whose pittance is shared with those who are 
" not the world's friends ; whose bountiful hand scatters food to 
" the hungry, and raiment to the naked; and whose peaceful 
fi steps, as he journey eth on his way, are blessed, and blessed 
" again by the uplifted eye of thankful indigence, and the sounds 
" of honest gratitude from the lips of wretchedness. Should such 
" a man be ill-fated here, or hereafter, may his fate be light ! 
" Should he transgress, may his transgressions be unrecorded! 
a Or, if the page of his great account be stained with the weak- 
" nesses of human nature, or the misfortune of error, may the 
" tears of the widow and the orphan, the tears of the wretched he 
" has relieved, efface the too rigid and unfriendly characters, and 
w blot out the guilt and remembrance of them for ever !" 

WANT OF HUMANITY. 

, " The individual whose life is dedicated to a constant war- 
" fare with his passions, whose life is a scene of temperance, 
u sobriety, assiduous prayer, and unremitting attendance on divine 
* worship, such an individual is certainly entitled to all the merit 
" justly due to such christian works; but, my friends, if, under so 
" fair and plausible a surface, there be a dark and frightful void ; 
" if, under the show of virtue, the stream of sensibility does not 
" flow; if such a character, pure and evangelical as it may appear, 
" has never. been marked by one solitary act of humanity, by any 
u instance of that brotherly affection and mutual love which hourly 
" breaks out into offices of mercy and useful beneficence, who 
a will hesitate to arrow that so specious an exterior is a mockery 
" on true virtue, an imposition on the good sense of the world, 
" and an insult on the life of Christ and the morality of his gos • 
" pel? Who will hesitate to admit that such a man may be aptly 
•'compared to a mountain remarkable for sterility and elevation, 



280 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

" which encumbers the earth with its pressure, while it chills all 
" around with its shade ?" 

LIBERALITY. 

" Liberality is the most amiable feature of the human mind ; a 
iC sacred tie which unites all jarring systems, promotes mutual 
" affection and peace among- men, inspires respect for the honest 
" intentions and well-meaning opinions of all mankind, fervently 
« wishes, but perhaps feels the impossibility, to unite all modes of 
" religion upon one broad and rational basis. True liberality is 
" more ; it is expanded as the earth, stimulates the bosom to pro- 
" miscuous benevolence, urges it to feel, and to relieve, the distres- 
" ses of Turk or Jew, as readily, and with as much warmth, as 
" those of the indigent who raise their hands within those walls ; 
" it wafts the mind over the waste of oceans into distant hemi- 
" spheres, to let fall a tear at the couch of the afflicted injidel as 
" well as at the bed of a sufferer of our own communion: these are 
" the operations of this beautiful and angelic virtue, and are the 
" pride and glory of every great soul. Thank God! that in the 
" age and land Ave live, religion is at length becoming free and 
" natural, and that all zealous contentions about particular systems 
iC are now clearly discovered to be unfriendly to the true interests 
" of the community, as well as the peace and happiness of the 
u - world. Thank God I the day is rapidly advancing (and it is a day 
" we should all look forward to with rapture and delight) when 
" every citizen may think as he pleases upon subjects of religion, 
f i and quietly offer sacrifice in whatever temple his inclination and 
" opinions point to: the day, and I will call it the glorious day, 
« when all religious societies, all ranks and degrees of men, will be 
iC connected together by one common and endearing tie of christian 
" benevolence and love; when the rancour of parties will cease, the 
a altars of uncharitableness cease to smoke ; the illiberal, narrow. 
" and sophisticated reasonings of bigotry be drowned in the vast 
• c and public cry of an enlarged philanthropy ; the hoary and vene- 
" rable tyrant, Superstition, plucked from his throne ; when the fri- 
u volous and ridiculous contest about primogeniture will be no 



THE STRANGER Itt IRELAND. 281 

u more ; and the God of benevolence, of humanity, of mutual for- 
" bearance and ardent charity, appear in the threshold of every 
" sanctuary, and obtain an undisputed empire in every heart. Thank 
" God ! that day is advancing — I know it. I feel it, I can assert it ; a 
" period devoutly to be wished for ; and, perhaps, the first open- 
" ing since the christian »ra of human happiness. If there is yet 
u some prejudice, it is giving way ; it must give way to liberal in- 
(i quiry ; it must retreat to the dark uncultivated corners of the 
" earth, and of course perish where it Cannot grow. The tears of 
** a few fanatics may accompany its fall ; but I believe that every 
" man who wishes to see the glorious restoration of reason, its 
" dignity unfettered, and the dominion of real vital religion esta- 
" Wished; every man who has at heart the enlargement of human 
" nature, and wishes to see the peace of society established upon 
" a secure and permanent basis, will joyfully sing to its requiem, 
& and manfully exert himself to oppose its second appearance in 
" the world!" 

THE VANITY OF WEALTH. 

" If they who lie there [pointing from the pulpit to the church- 
u yard], whose places you now occupy, and whose riches you pos- 
" sess (God only knows how possess) ; if they, I say, were at this 
" moment to appear amongst you (don't tremble), it would not be 
u to reclaim their wealth, but to bear testimony to its vanity." 

miDE. 

" How often have we seen the column of pride, erected upon 
ki the base of infamy, and just when it hath begun to attract the 
" gape and stare of the adulatory multitude, death, like a rocky 
" fragment rolling from the mountain, crumbles into nothing the 
« imaginary colossus." 

Dean Kirwan made the celebrated Bossuet and Massillon 
the models of his style and action. Voltaire selected the sermon 
of the latter upon " The small Number of the Elect," as an exam- 
ple of devotional eloquence under that head in the Encyclopaedia; 

2N 



282 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

which oration, I was informed, resembles the dean's best man- 
ner in many parts. The action of the dean was too vehement for 
his constitution; after having astonished his auditors with his sub- 
limity, or affected them by his pathos, he was frequently obliged 
to pause, and sit down before he proceeded again ; and this respite 
from the effect of feelings highly wrought upon was equally ne- 
cessary to his hearers. On the days when he preached, every 
avenue used to be crowded long before he ascended the pulpit. 
Grattan finely said of this eloquent divine, that " in feeding the 
" lamp of charity, he had exhausted the lamp of life." 

The. family of this most bountiful patron of the poor and friend- 
less is left in very restricted circumstances. " Non sibi sed aliis" 
most justly belonged to him. The gratitude, the taste, the spirit of 
the country are charged with their protection, 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 283 



CHAPTER XX. 

TtNNAHINCH GRATTAN STRIKING SPECIMENS OF HIS ELO- 
QUENCE AND STILE OF WRITING. 

U PON quitting St. Valori, I paid a visit to that great man 
Gratta*n, whom I have with so much gratification mentioned, at 
his beautiful seat called Tinnahinch, or the Little Peninsula, the 
approach to which is very fine. Tinnahinch, or Teine Inch : the 
latter applies to some great altar of the pagan Irish, in or about 
the place so called. Teine signifies water; it also means stagnated 
waters, and the water-marks of a river. Inch, or inis, or enis, sig- 
nifies an island. The Irish give this name even to lands not quite 
surrounded by water, as Inche-core, near Dublin, which has the 
Liffey in front, and a small stream parallel to it at the back, run- 
ning to Kilmainham gaol. The house stands at the base of avast 
mountain, finely clothed with wood and verdure : a little from the 
summit is Powerscourt, the noble residence of viscount Powers- 
court. 

Soon after my arrival, the distinguished owner of TinnahincR 
conducted me through his beautiful grounds. The surrounding 
objects corresponded with the mind of my guide. Before us a 
winding river, here fertilizing meadows, there foaming over rocks, 
the rich romantic foilage of the woods, and the lofty mountains 
that half enclose the Dargle, represented his eloquence, lucid, 
rich, copious, and sublime; whilst behind the cloud-capt Scalp, 
serrated with broken rock, resembled the terrible force of his 
roused philippic. I had the peculiar happiness of seeing this great 
man in the bosom of his amiable, elegant, and accomplished fami- 
ly ; and in one of the greatest orators and politicians of the age, I 
saw the affectionate husband, the fond father, the luminous and 
profound scholar, the playful wit, and polite, well-bred, hospitable 
gentleman. Such is the man wbo, in his speeches upon the ques- 



284 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

tion of the paramount right of England to change the constitution-, 
al government of Ireland, displayed an eloquence before unknown 
to that, and never surpassed in any country. This question un- 
derwent several discussions in 1780, 1781, and 1782: the speech 
which he delivered on the 19th of April 1780, was, as I was in- 
formed by a gentleman who had the good fortune to be present 
when it was delivered, most brilliant, energetic, and impressive: 
it effected the repeal of the 6th George I, and for a period gave 
independence to his country : for this sfieech alone the parliament, 
by an almost unanimous vote, granted him the sum of fifty thou* 
sand pounds I His speech also on the propositions in 1785 is said 
to have teemed with the highest eloquence. 

Owing to the parliamentary debates of Ireland having been ir- 
regularly and imperfectly taken, I found considerable difficulty in 
procuring specimens of the eloquence of this great orator; some 
of those with which I shall gratify my reader, I received from the 
oral communication of persons who had heard and treasured them 
up in their recollection. 

I am sure I have no right, from public or private information, 
to assert that Grattan is the author of Junius's Letters, but the 
very soul of that immortal writer seems to vivify all his speeches 
and writings ; the same sagacity, the same galling irony, the same 
richness of language, the same impassioned energy of expression, 
combining conciseness with ornament, strength with beauty, and 
elegance with sublimity. 

It must be remembered that the speeches from which I have 
taken the following extracts, were delivered in times of political 
convulsion, when the public mind was highly inflamed. I offer 
them solely as specimens of elevated oratory, and not for the pur- 
pose of introducing political sentiments. 

PROVIDENCE. 

" So it frequently happens; men are but instruments of Provi- 
dence, and without knowing it, fulfil her ways. The zealot is but 
an inflamed organ, bursting forth with unpremeditated truths." 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND, 285 

WRETCHED PEASANTRY. 

« The hapless people of the south are husbandmen from ne- 
cessity, not choice. They have no other means of existence. They 
are obliged, in many places, to clamber mountains, rocks, and pre- 
cipices, to snatch from sterility a little spot of ground, and oppose 
indefatigable industry to the natural stubbornness of the soil. And 
they are compelled to wade to cultivation through bogs and mo~ 
rasscs; labouring thus to add to the productive grounds of the 
kingdom." 

VALUE OF PEASANTRY. 

" Where can the peasantry of Ireland look for protection, if 
you deny them assistance ? They are the pillars of the state, and 
if not humanity, good policy ought at least to guide you to cherish 
them. You complain they are intractable,- there is no animal so 
fierce but can be tamed, save the tyger; yet he is in some mea- 
sure to be subdued. If you wish to conciliate him, feed him well- 
Try the experiment, I intreat you. 

TOLERATION. 

" The source of your reason tells you that you should embrace 
every sect of religion ; how then can you hope to receive sovereign 
mercy if you are deaf to the cries of your fellow creatures? The 
doctrine of the dark conclave of bigotiij^ which, bursting, over- 
whelmed the nations of the earth, may be urged in favour of such 
criminal apathy; but the pangs of him who suffered a cruel cruci- 
fixion will rush from the sepulchre, to upbraid you with ingrati- 
tude, and involve your future tranquillity." 

ILLIBERALITY. 

" When a bill for the improvement of barren lands, and the en- 
couragement of industry among the lower orders of the people, 
was in the last session resisted by the spiritual peers, a right reve- 
rend prelate was said to have declared as a principle, that the poor 
should not be relieved, if the clergy were to be at the expense. 
Such a sentiment coming from a christian, and a protestant bishop. 



286 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND.. 

must have smitten every breast with deep and sincere affliction : 
but if we are cast down by so great and grave an authority on the 
one side, we are consoled again by a still higher interposition, the 
express commands and practice of the Scriptures on the other, 
The Saviour of man suffered on a principle different from that 
which the right reverend prelate has introduced. The apostles, 
the martyrs, and that faming constellation of men that in the early' 
age of Christianity shot to their station in the heavens, andfelk and 
falling illumined the nations of the earth with the blaze of the Gosfiel, 
they rose and they fell with inspirations of a very different kind. 
Had Christ been of the prelate's opinion, he never had been born, 
and we never had been saved. Had he said to his apostles, * The 
poor are not to be fed, the valley is not to laugh and to sing at the 
expense of our church ;' or, had the apostles said to the nations of 
the earth, < Ye are not to be benefited at the expense of christian 
pastors;' or, had the martyrs expostulated with themselves, * Wc 
will not suffer for mankind,' what had become of the christian re- 
ligion? Let the pagan priest of Jove, or the sensual priest of Ma- 
homet, deliver such doctrine, but don't you part with the palm of 
Christianity, nor relinquish the lofty self-surrendering precepts of 
your gospel, to poach in politics for little and wicked tenets, in 
order to brand your prayer-book with the image of a sorry sel- 
fishness, which would disgrace the frontispiece of Machiavel." 

DESCRIPTION OF A GREAT CHARACTER. 

" I speak of some, not all. There are among them men whom 
I revere. Such is one whom I don't name, because he is present ; 
mild, learned, pious, and benevolent ; a friend to the meekness of 
the gospel, and a friend to man. Such is another whom I may 
venture to name, because he is not present. He has the first 
episcopal dignity in this realm — it is his right — he takes it by 
virtue of the commanding benevolence of his mind, in right of a 
superior and exalted nature. There are men possessed of certain 
creative powers, and who distinguish the place of their nativity, 
instead of being distinguished by it — they don't receive, they give 
birth to the place of their residence, and vivify the region which 






THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 287 

is about them. The man I alluded to I know not, or know him as 
we know superior beings, only by his works.'* 

ANONYMOUS SLANDER. 

" No man, no body of men, has a right to charge on a member 
of the legislature, as his speech made therein, an unauthc :ised 
publication. Against this rule have transgressed those anonymous 
and wrathful clergymen, who, in a flock of noisy publications, 
have attacked what I never published, and replied to what I never 
said. They are welcome — they have shown that all of them can 
excel ; their patron, I hope, will reward them ! The fit es of the 
vintage, they gather about the press, and already taste, in devout 
expectation, the inspiring fruit. A light swarm! that they should 
travel over boundaries I am not astonished ; but that the grave 
body, the parochial clergy of Munster, with their six bishops 
should assail me, is strange — but they too are welcome." 

USURPED CONSEQUENCE. 

a But it should seem that it was not religion which supported 
the parson, but the parson that supported religion. The error, 
however, is natural and common ; the politician thinks the state 
rests on his shoulders, and the dignified divine imagines the church 
and the christian religion — the firmament and starry sphere, to 
dance round his person and property. It is a matter of curiosity 
to know what, on the present occasion, has endangered the christian 
religion — an anonymous pamplet against tithe, and a motion to 
inquire into the sufferings of the poor — for this is the godhead 
brought out of his shrine, and exposed as an outwork in defence 
of church property." 

In Mr. Grattan's celebrated address to his fellow-citizens, in 
1797, the following beautiful passages occur: 

DEMOCRACY. 

" We saw the minister retreating from the enemy with as rapid 
a step as he advanced upon the people, going back, and back, and 



288 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

back; while the democratic principle in Europe was getting on, 
and on, like a mist at the heels of the countrymen, small at first, 
and lowly, but soon ascending to the hills, and overcasting the 
hemisphere." 

OUTRAGE. 

" Sensible acts of violence have an epidemic force ; they ope- 
rate by sympathy ; they possess the air, as it were, by certain tender 
influences, and spread the kindred passion through the whole com- 
munity." 

TOLERATION. 

" Kings have no right to enter into the tabernacle of the human 
mind, and hang up there the images of their own orthodoxy. We 
know of no royal rule either for religion or mathematics." 

WEAKNESS OF HUMAN NATURE. 

" Our contemplation, the most profound, on divine nature, can 
only lead us to one great conclusion, our own immeasurable inan- 
ity ; from whence we should learn, that we can never serve God 
but in serving his creature ; and to think we serve God by a pro- 
fusion of prayer, when we degrade and proscribe his creature and 
our fellow creature, is to suppose Heaven, like the court of prin- 
ces, a region of flattery, and that man can there procure a holy 
connivance at his inhumanity, on the personal application of luxu- 
rious and complimentary devotion." 

FRENCH REVOLUTION. 

" A gigantic form walked the earth at this moment, who 
smote crowns with a hundred hands, and opened for the seduction 
of their subjects a hundred arms." 

EXTENDED EMPIRE. 

" When England had conquered France, possessed America, 
guided the counsels of Prussia, directed Holland, and intimidated 
Spain ; when she was the great western temple to which the nations 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 289 

of the earth repaired, from whence to draw eternal oracles of policy 
and freedom ; when her root extended from continent to continent 
and the dew of the two hemispheres watered her branches — then in- 
deed we allowed with less danger, but never with justice that she 
might have made sacrifices of the claims of the Irish." 

BOROUGH INFLUENCE. 

" The king had another instrument more subtle and more 
pliable than the sword, and against the liberty of the subject more 
cold and deadly, a court instrument that murders freedom without 
the mark of blood, palls itself in the covering of the constitution, 
and in her own colours, and in her name, plants the dagger — a 
borough parliament.'* 

BOROUGH MONGERS. 

" It is well known that the price of boroughs is from fourteen 
to sixteen thousand pounds, and has, in the course of not many 
years, increased one-third; a proof at once of the extravagance 
and audacity of this abuse, which thus looks to immortality, and 
proceeds, unawed by the times and uninstructed by example, and 
in moments which are held alarming entertains no fear, conceives 
no panic, and feels no remorse which prevents the chapman and 
dealer from going on at any risk with his villainous little barter, in 
the very rockings and frownings of the elements, and makes him 
tremble indeed at liberty, but not at crimes." 

CORRUPTION. 

" Make your people honest, says the court — make your court 
honest, says the people ; it is the higher classes that introduce 
corruption — thieving may be learned from poverty ; but corruption 
is learned from riches. It is a venal court that makes a venal 
country ; that vice descends from above. The peasant does not go to 
the castle for the bribe, but the castle*candidate goes to the peasant, 
and the castle candidate offers the bribe to the peasant, because 
he expects, in a much greater bribe, to be repaid by the minister ; 
thus things go on ; 'tis impossible they can last." 

2 O 



£90 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

BRIBERY AND TERROR. 

" The laws did, in my judgment, afford the crown sufficient 
power to administer the country, and preserve the connexion with 
Great Britain ; but our ministers have despised the ordinary track, 
and plain, obvious, legitimate and vulgar bonds between the king 
and the subject ; they have resorted to the guinea and the gallows, 
as to the only true and faithful friends of government, and try to 
hang when they can't compel; they have extended the venal sti- 
pendiary principle to all constituted authorities ; they have given 
the taint to the grave corporator as well as the senator, and have 
gone into the halls and streets to communicate the evil to the 
middling and ordinary part of society." 

DECLINE OF EMPIRE. 

" The Romans were conquered at Cannse, first by Varro. and 
afterwards by Hannibal. The English have been conquered, first 
by the minister, and afterwards by the French. Those Romans 
were finally conquered by the barbarians of the north, because they 
had been previously conquered by the princes of the empire; and 
then the half-armed savage, with the pike and the pole, came 
down on the frontiers, and disposed of the masters of the world 
as of the stock of the land — the gouty stock of the rich, and the 
rude stock of the people." 

REFORM. 

" In the American contest we saw that reform which had been 
born in England, and banished to America, advance like the shep- 
herd lad in holy writ, and overthrow Goliah. He returned, riding 
on the wave of the Atlantic, and his spirit moved on the waters of 
Europe." 

SELF-LEGISLATION. 

" Self-legislation is life, and has been fought for as for being. 
It was that principle that called forth resistance to the house of 
Stuart, and baptized with royalty the house of Hanover, when the 
people stood sponsors for their allegiance to the liberty of the sub- 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 291 

jects ; for kings are but satellites, and your freedom is the lumi- 
nary that has called them to the skies ; but your fatal compliances 
(speaking of the then parliament) have caused a succession of 
measures which have collected upon us such an accumulation of 
calamity, and which have finally, at an immense expense and 
through a sea of blood, stranded these kingdoms on a solitary shore, 
naked of empire, naked of liberty, and bereft of innocence, to 
ponder on an abyss which has swallowed up one part of their for- 
tunes, and yawns for the remainder." 

He thus finely pourtrays some of the great political characters 
of Ireland. 

" Mr. Malone, lord Pery, late lord Shannon, duke of Leinster, 
the Mr. Ponsonbys, Mr. Brown low, bir William Osborne, Mr. 
Burgh, Mr. Daly, Mr. Yelvertort, Mr. Ogle, Mr. Flood, Mr. 
Forbes, lord Charlemont, and myself. I follow the author through 
the graves of the honourable dead men, for most of them are so ; 
and I beg to raise up their tombstones, as he throws them down; 
I feel it more instructive to converse with their ashes than with 
his compositions. Mr. Malone, one of the characters of 53, was a 
man of the finest intellect that any country ever produced. l The 

* three ablest men I have ever heard, were Mr. Pitt (the father), 
' Mr. Murray, and Mr. Malone; for for a popular assembly I 
i would chuse Mr. Pitt ; for a privy council, Murray ; as a wise 
1 man, Malone.' This was the opinion lord Sackville, the secretary 
of 53, gave of Mr. Malone to a gentleman from whom I have 
heard it. ' Fie is a great sea in a calm,' said Mr. Gerrard Hamilton, 
another great judge of men of talents. < Aye,' it was replied, * but 

* had you seen him when he was young, you would have said he 
1 was a great sea in a storm ;' and like the sea, whether in calm or 
storm, he was a great production of nature." 

MR. FLOOD. 

Mr. Flood, my rival, as the pamphlet calls him — and I should 
be unworthy the character of his rival, if in his grave I did not 
do him justice — he had his faults, but he had great powers, great 



292 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND, 

public effect; he persuaded the old, he inspired the young; the 
castle vanished before him ; on a small subject he was miserable; 
put into his hand a distaff, and, like Hercules, he made sad work 
of it; but give him the thunderbolt, and he had the arm of a Jupi- 
ter; he misjudged when he transferred himself to the English 
parliament; he forgot that he was a tree of the forest, too old and too 
great to be transplanted at fifty; and his seat in the British parlia- 
ment is a caution to the friends of union to stay at home, and make 
the country of their birth the seat of their action." 

MR. BURGH, 

Afterwards lord chief baron of the exchequer. 

" Mr. Burgh, another great person in those scenes, which it 
is not in the little quill of this author to depreciate. He was a man 
singularly gifted with great talent, great variety, wit, oratory, and 
logic; he too had his weakness; but he had the pride of genius 
also; he strove to raise his country along with himself, and never 
sought to build his elevation on the degradation of Ireland. 

" I moved an amendment for a free export; he moved a better 
amendment, and he lost his place; I moved a declaration of right: 
4 With my last breath will I support the right of the Irish parlia- 
e ment,' was his note to me, when I applied to him for his support: 
he lost the chance oi recovering his place, and his way to the seals, 
for which he might have bartered. The gates of promotion were 
shut on him, as those of glory opened." 

MR. DALY. 

« Mr. Daly, my beloved friend; he in" a great measure drew 
the address of 79, in favour of our trade; that < ungracious mea- 
i sure;' and he saw, read and approved of the addresss of 82, in 
favour of constitution, that address of < separation:* he visited me 
in my illness, at that moment, and I had communication on those 
subjects with that man, whose powers of oratory were next to per- 
fection, and whose powers of understanding, I might say, from 
what has lately happened, bordered on the spirit of prophecy." 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 293 

MR. FORBES. 

Mr. Forbes, a name I shall ever regard, and a death I shall 
ever deplore, enlightened, sensible, laborious, and useful — proud 
in poverty, and patriotic, he preferred exile to apostacy, and met 
his death. I speak of the dead, I say nothing of the living, but that 
I attribute to this constellation of men, in a great measure, the 
privileges of your country ; and I attribute such a generation of 
men to the residence of your parliament." 

EARL OF CHARLEMONT. 

" In the list of injured characters I beg leave to say a few words 
for the good and gracious earl of Charlemont; an attack not only 
on his measures, but on his representative, makes his vindication 
seasonable; formed to unite aristocracy and the people; with the 
manners of a court, and the principles of a patriot; with the flame 
of liberty and the love of order, unassailable to the approaches of 
power, of profit, or of titles, he annexed to the love of freedom a 
veneration for order, and cast on the crowd that followed him the 
gracious shade of his own accomplishments ; so that the very rabble 
grew civilized as it approached his person; for years did he preside 
over a great army without pay or reward, and he helped to accom- 
plish a great revolution, without a drop of blood. 

" Let slaves utter their slander, and bark at glory which is con- 
ferred by the people ; his name will stand ; and when his clay shall 
be gathered in the dust to which it belongs, his monument, whether 
in marble or in the hearts of his countrymen, shall be consulted as 
a subject of sorrow^ and a source of virtue.''* 

G rattan had the highest veneration for the talents of Flood; 
but the latter was jealous of his fame, and more jealous of the 
splendid reward bestowed upon him by the nation: in a stormy 
debate, Flood bitterly reflected upon the conduct of Grattan, and 
even stooped to personalities, which drew one of the finest philip- 
pics ever heard from the latter, who observed, turning to Flood, 
whose nose was disfigured : " He resembles an ill-omened bird 
*' of night, that with sepulchral notes, a cadaverous aspect, and 



294 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

" broken beak, hovers over the dome of this assembly,' shedding 
" baneful influence, and ready to stoop and pounce upon his prey: 
" he can be trusted by no man; the people cannot trust him; the 
"minister cannot trust him; he deals out the most impartial 
" treachery to both ; he tells the nation it is ruined by other men, 
" while it is sold by himself; he fled from the embargo-bill, he fled 
"from the mutiny-bill, he fled from the sugar-bill; I therefore 
" tell him in the face of his country, before all the World, and to 
u his very beard, he is not an honest man." 






THE STRANGER IN IRELAND, 295 



CHAPTER. XXL 

POWERSCOURT HOUSE — THE FOUR COURTS DESCRIBED THE 

IRISH BAR EMINENT ADVOCATES CHARACTERISTIC AFFA- 
BILITY CURIOUS MODE OF PLACING WITNESSES NUMBER 

OF COUNSEL IN A CAUSE WHIMSICAL CIRCUMSTANCE LATE 

LORD AVONMORE ANECDOTE SPECIMENS OF MR. CURRANTS 

ELOQUENCE FALSE ALARM INUNDATION AND LAWYERS* 

WIGS THE NEW KING'S INNS. 

IT was with real regret that I left the delightful and 
hospitable roof of Tinnahinch. In my way to Dublin I paid my 
respects to lord Powerscourt, and much regretted that time would 
not permit me to accept of the kind and cordial invitation of his 
lordship and his amiable lady, to spend some days at the castle, 
which stands in the proudest situation I ever beheld. The front 
of the house is of hewn stone, adorned with pilasters, and very 
handsome and extensive : few mansions can boast of so noble and 
magnificent a banqueting-room as the Egyptian-hall, which was 
designed and built by the architect of the parliament-house : it has 
a gallery on each side, supported by Corinthian pillars: the draw- 
ing-rooms are also very elegant; the avenues to the house beauti- 
ful, and the park, spread over the mountain, uncommonly fine. 

Upon my return to Dublin, Michaelmas term had just com- 
menced, and afforded me an opportunity of visiting the courts of 
law. The building which contains them is truly superb. I will 
venture to affirm that Justice has not such a temple in any other 
country. It contains the king's bench, common pleas, and ex- 
chequer. 

The first stone of this magnificent edifice was laid on the 3d 
of March 1786, by the duke of Rutland, then viceroy of Ireland, 
and the design was made and executed by Mr. Gandon, who, I 



296 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

forgot to mention, was a pupil of Sir William Chambers, and to 
whose genius and taste I have before felt great pleasure in at- 
tempting to do justice. The entire front extends four hundred 
and thirty -two feet, and its depth is one hundred and fifty -five. 
The courts, which are in the centre, occupy a space of one hun- 
dred and forty feet, advance to the street, and are equal to the 
front of the wings of the offices containing the records, which 
form a quadrangle on each side, and are connected with the cen- 
tre by arcades, under which there are private doors for the judges 
to pass into their respective courts. The plan, as remarkable for 
its novelty as well as elegance, affords, from the disposition of its 
parts, an easy communication with each of the courts, which are 
extremely well lighted, and are sufficiently spacious for the pur- 
poses of hearing raid ventilation. 

In the front you ascend by a flight of steps under a portico, 
supported by six columns of the Corinthian order, thirty-six feet 
high, and enter a vestibule decorated with Ionic columns, leading 
to the great hall, which is sixty-four feet diameter, and seventy - 
six feet high to the inner dome, forming a general communication 
to the Four Courts, and its contiguous departments. This area 
at first conveyed to my mind the idea of an imperial Roman bath 
from which the water had been emptied. In this place the coun- 
sel, solicitors, and clients parade, previous to the suits in which 
they are concerned coming on. On each side of the courts are two 
galleries, one for juries, the other for spectators. These galleries 
are ascended to by stairs from the courts, and lead to the jury 
rooms by which the juries %re prevented from having any com- 
munication with the public ; a very necessary caution, which is 
not practised in England. 

The great hall cannot fail of impressing the spectator with 
the extent of its dimensions, and the elegance of its decorations. 
There are four openings in it, which form entrances to the 
courts, consisting of a couple of columns in the thickness 
of the wall ; instead of noisy doors, double green curtains are 
used. There are also similar spaces, with columns, partly enclosed 
by doors, leading to different apartments, communicating with 






THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 297 

the judges* rooms, which are octangular. Besides these entrances, 
there are eight piers with niches, which piers and the columns are 
finished by a composite entablature, over which there is an attic, 
decorated with four bas relievos, consisting of the following sub- 
jects: king Alfred establishing the trial by jury; Henry II. 
granting the charter to the Irish ; Magna Charta signed by king 
John, and the abolition of the Brehon law. From this rises a lofty 
dome, in which are the windows that light the hall. Between 
these windows are eight colossal emblematic figures in bas re- 
lievo, of the different virtues, with their appropriate emblems. 
From the heads of these figures springs an antique running foliage 
round the dome. Over every window are large medallions of the 
heads of the most celebrated legislators; the whole forming a 
beautiful and appropriate combination. The remaining part of 
the cove is finished with antique lozenges, up to a large opening 
at the top of the dome, which is surrounded by a circular iron-rail. 

The front has a commanding appearance on the Inns Quay, 
but is seen to most advantage from the opposite side of the river : 
it is constructed of white grey stone, a species of white granite. 
Over the portico is a pediment with statues. 

The entablature of the sides is finished by a balustrade, on 
which are sitting figures. Over the angles of the building is shown 
as much of the drum of the dome as forms a pleasing and well- 
proportioned basement, to show the superstructure to the greatest 
advantage, which is composed of a long cylinder, surrounded by 
detached Corinthian columns twenty -five feet high. Between 
these columns are alternate niches and windows. The columns are 
finished with an entablature, with two plinths, from which springs 
the dome, covered with copper. A skreen rusticated arcade, in 
which are great gates of communication to the quadrangular 
courts and offices, connect the basement of the wings of the of- 
fices, which complete the fascade. This magnificent building cost 
ninety -five thousand pounds. 

If there were a noble bridge from the opposite side to this 
building, the effect would be very grand and finished : it was not the 
fault of the architect that it is so closely upon a line with the, street. 

2 P 



298 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND, 

Some disputes respecting the ground behind prevented it from 
receding more : still it is not so objectionably placed as the front 
of Somerset-house towards the Strand. 

To the architectural description already given of the internal 
construction of the courts I have nothing to add, but that nothing 
can be more elegant. Perhaps the jury-boxes are too much ele- 
vated for the counsel to address the jury with ease. 

I believe I need not observe that the Irish are remarkably 
eloquent. I had the high gratification of hearing the chief of the 
Irish bar, Curran ; of his style I shall enable my reader to judge 
hereafter. Mr. Ponsonby, since elevated to the dignity of lord 
high chancellor of Ireland, a situation equally due to his integrity, 
genius, and learning, is an able debater, and remarkable for deli- 
cate and refined irony. Mr. Plunket, the attorney-generar, is 
celebrated for his acuteness, and possesses great wit and humour ; 
the solicitor-general, Mr. Bushe, possesses the serious and dig- 
nified style of oratory, and is thought to rank next to Curran : Mr. 
Bunton is considered unrivalled in a clear a&d well-arranged state- 
ment of facts : Mr. Saurin and Mr. Bull are profound lawyers* 
and deliver their arguments in clear and familiar language : Mr- 
M'Nally is regarded as an able criminal lawyer. I was one mor- 
ning in the court of chancery, where I heard part of a very long and 
learned argument, before the master of the rolls, upon the nature 
of descendible freehold ; barren as the subject is of oratorical or- 
nament, I was struck with the following beautiful sentence from 
one of the counsel ; I was informed, Mr. Stewart. " The nature 
" of freehold," said the advocate, " naturally attracted the heir, 
u and repelled the executor: each could only exist in the atmos- 
" phere of his own system. The executor was of Roman birth 
" and origin; the heir was inseparably connected with that sys- 
" tern which was first discovered in the woods." There are many 
other gentlemen at this bar of considerable legal learning and 
genius, whom I had not the good fortune of hearing. 

A stranger, accustomed to the severe solemnity of an English 
court of law, cannot but be impressed with the characteristic good- 
humour and familiarity which prevail in the courts of the Irish 
metropolis. A judge feels it no degradation to converse, during the 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 299 

pause of judicial business, with a respectable solicitor, who also 
never fails to receive the most gentleman-like attention from his 
counsel. I was surprised to find, considering how infinitely supe- 
rior the arrangements of their courts were, that they had no wit- 
ness-box. The witness is hoisted upon the table, where the counsel 
within the bar sit, with all the mud and filth adhering to his shoes, 
where he is seated upon a chair ; and a lady is exposed in the same 
manner. Counsel are not confined to one particular court ; they 
plead in all the courts: the consequence is, that a party in litigation 
is frequently deprived of the services of a favourite advocate whom 
be has retained, and he is put to the heavy expense of retaining 
a great number of other counsel, to secure the presence of one of 
them when his trial comes on. 

It is whimsical enough to hear the criers of the courts of 
king's-bench, common-pleas, and exchequer, all bawling together, 
" John Philpot Curran, Esq." and his clients and solicitors run- 
ning after him in various directions, and at length finding him 
scattering the flowers of his rhetoric over the barren soil of equi- 
table investigation in the court of chancery. 

All money paid into this court is lodged in the national bank, 
and, upon motion, will be directed to be lent out upon government 
security, in order to procure an annual interest; but if it remain 
in the bank, it does not bear interest. Ordering money out of the 
bank fs attended with much more expense in the Irish than the 
English chancery. 

Ireland lost a very able judge in the late lord Avonmore, who 
died in August, 1805. In the administration of lord North he was 
a member of the Irish parliament, during which time he continued 
in opposition. Upon the duke of Portland being appointed lor J 
lieutenant of Ireland, he was appointed attorney-general; and, in 
Michaelmas term, 1783, was raised to the dignity of chief baron 
of the exchequer, in which office he continued until his death. 
He was eminent for his classical knowledge, and in early life in- 
tended to have published a translation of Livy, in which he made 
considerable progress ; but his success at the bar prevented him 
from completing it 



300 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

Although a man of distinquished talents, he was too apt, from 
a hasty disposition, to anticipate the tendency of an argument. A 
celebrated lawyer, whose client had suffered in consequence of 
this habit, took the following method of reproving it: being en- 
gaged to dine in company with the noble lord, he delayed going, 
so long, that the company were at dinner when he entered the 
room : he apologized for his absence, apparently with much agita- 
tion, stating that, from a melancholy event he had just witnessed, 
he found himself unable to master his feelings: " I was passing 
u through the market," said he, " a calf was bound to a post : the 
" butcher had drawn his knife, and was just advancing, when a 
u beautiful child ran across him, and O! my God! he killed" — 
w the child I" exclaimed his lordship : " No, my lord, the calf; but 
M your lordship is in the habit of anticipating" 

The following brilliant extracts from speeches made by Mr, 
Curran will illustrate the pretensions which he has to the high 
character he has obtained as an orator. 

My reader will scarely require to be told, after he has peru- 
sed them, that they were delivered in times of violence, during 
the effervescence of the rebellion, and that they are solely intro- 
duced to exhibit the style of eloquence of the orator. 

UNIVERSAL EMANCIPATION. 

« Universal Emancipation! No matter in what language his 
doom may have been pronounced; — no matter what complexion, 
incompatible with freedom, an Indian or an African sun may- 
have burnt upon him ; — no matter in what disastrous battle his 
liberty may have been cloven down; — no matter with whatsolem-' 
nities he may have been devoted upon the altar of slavery ; the 
first moment he touches the sacred soil of Britain, the altar and 
the god sink together in the dust ; his soul walks abroad in her 
majesty ; his begdy swells beyond the measure of his chains that 
burst from around him, and he stands redeemed, regenerated, and 
disenthralled, by the irresistible genius of universal emancipa- 
tion !" 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 301 

EXQUISITE IRONICAL HUMOUR. 

" Gentlemen, how then does Mr. O'Brien's tale hang togeth- 
er? Look to its commencement. He walks along Thomas street 
in the open day (a street not the least populous in this city), and 
is accosted by a man who, without any preface, tells him he'll be 
murdered before he goes half the street, unless he becomes an 
united Irishman ! Do you think this is a probable story ? Suppose 
any of you, gentlemen, be an united Irishman, or a free-mason, 
or a friendly -brother, and that you met me walking innocently 
along, just like Mr. O'Brien, and meaning no harm, would you 
say, < Stop, Mr. Curran, don't go further; you'll be murdered 

* before you go half the street, if you do not become an united 
i Irishman, a free-mason, or a friendly-brother.' Did you ever 
hear so coaxing an invitation to felony as this ? < Sweet Mr. James 
1 O'Brien ! come in and save your precious life ; come in and take 

* an oath, or you'll be murdered before you go half the street! — 
< Do, sweetest, dearest, Mr. James O'Brien, come in, and do not 
1 risk your valuable existence 1' What a loss had he been to his 
king, whom he loves so marvellously ! Well, what does poor Mr. 
O'Brien do? Poor, dear man, he stands petrified with the magni- 
tude of his danger — all his members refuse their office — he can 
neither run from the danger, nor call out for assistance ; /ris tongue 
cleaves to his mouth, and his feet incorporate with the paving-stones : 
it is in vain that his expressive eye silently implores protection of 
the passengers; he yields at length, as greater men have done, 
and resignedly submits to his fate — he then enters the house, and 
being led into a room, a parcel of men make faces at him — but 
mark the metamorphosis — Well may it be said that c miracles 
will never cease' — he who feared to resist in open air, and in the 
face of the public, becomes a bravo when pent up in a room, and 
environed by sixteen men; and one is obliged to bar the door, 
while another swears him, which, after some resistance, is accord- 
ly done, and poor Mr. O'Brien becomes an united Irishman, for 
no earthly purpose whatever but merely to save his sweet life !— « 
But this is not all ; the pill so bitter to the percipiency of his loyal 



302 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

palate must be washed down ; and lest he should throw it off his 
stomach, he is filled up to the neck with beef and whisky ." 

GUILT. 

K You finding him coiling himself in the scaly circles of his 
cautious perjury, making anticipated battle against any one who 
should appear against him ; but you see him sink before the proof." 

FINE DESCRIPTION OF AN INFORMER. 

" This cannibal informer, this daemon O'Brien, greedy after 
human gore, has fifteen other victims in reserve, if, from your 
verdict, he receives the unhappy man at his bar ! Fifteen more of 
your fellow -citizens are to be tried on the evidence ! Be you, then, 
their saviours; let your verdict snatch them from his ravening 
maw, and interpose between yourselves and endless remorse ! 

FREEDOM OF THE PRESS. 

" I do not pretend to be a mighty grammarian, or a formidable 
critic ; but I would beg leave to suggest to you in serious humi- 
lity, that a free press can be supported only by the ardor of men 
who feel the prompting sting of real or supposed capacity ; who 
write from the enthusiasm of virtue, or the ambition of praise, and 
over whom, if you exercise the rigour of a grammatical censor- 
ship, you will inspire them with as mean an opinion of your inte- 
grity as your wisdom, and inevitably drive them from their post ; 
and if you do, rely upon it you will reduce the spirit of publica- 
tion, and with it the press of this country, to what it for a long 
interval has been, the register of births, and fairs, and funerals, 
and the general abuse of the people and their friends." 

AN INNOCENT VICTIM. 

" That after that period of lingering deliberation passed, a 
third respite is transmitted ; that the unhappy captive himself feels 
the cheering hope of being restored to a family that he adored, to 
a character that lie had never stained, and to a country that he 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 303 

had ever loved ; that you had seen his wife and children upon 
their knees, giving those tears to gratitude, which their locked and 
frozen hearts could not give to anguish and despair, and implor- 
ing the blessings of eternal Providence upon his head who had 
graciously spared the father, and restored him to his children ; 
that you had seen the olive branch sent into his little ark, but no 
sign that the waters had subsided. * Alas ! nor wife, nor children, 
* more shall he behold ; nor friends, nor sacred home ¥ No seraph 
mercy unbars his dungeon, and leads him forth to light and life ; 
but the minister of death hurries him to the scene of suffering and 
of shame, where, unmoved by the hostile array of artillery and 
armed men collected together to secure, or to insult, or to disturb 
him, he dies with a solemn declaration of his innocence, and utters 
his last breath in a prayer for the liberty of his country." 

LIBEL. 

K Perhaps, gentlemen, he may know you better than I do: if 
he does, he has spoken to you as he ought ; he has been right in 
telling you, that if the reprobation of this writer is weak, it is be- 
cause his genius could not make it stronger ; he has been right in 
telling you that his language has not been braided and festooned 
as elegantly as it might; that he has not finished the 7niserable plaits 
of his phraseology, nor placed his patches and feathers with that cor- 
rectness of millinery which became so exalted a person. If you 
agree with him, gentlemen of the jury ; if you think that the man 
who ventures, at the hazard of his own life, to rescue from the 
the deep the drowned honour of his country, must not presume 
upon the guilty familiarity of pluckiug it up by the locks, I have no 
more to say; do a courteous thing. Upright and honest jurors I 
find a civil and obliging verdict against the printer! and when you 
have done so, march through the ranks of your fellow-citizens to 
your own homes, and hear their looks as they pass along ; retire 
to the bosom of your families and children, and when you are pre- 
siding over the morality of the parental board, tell those infants, 
who are to be the future men of Ireland, the history of this day. 
Form their young minds by your precepts, and confirm those. 



304 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

precepts by your own example ; teach them how discreetly alle- 
giance may be perjured on the table, or loyalty be foresworn in 
the jury-box: and when you have done so, tell them the story of 
Orr; tell them of his captivity, of his children, of his crime, of 
his hopes, of his disappointments, of his courage, and of his death; 
and when you find your little hearers hanging from your lips, 
when you see their eyes overflow with sympathy and sorrow, and 
their young hearts bursting with the pangs of anticipated orphan- 
age, tell them that you had the boldness and the justice to stig- 
matize the monster who has dared to publish the transaction !" 

VIRTUE OPPOSED TO HEREDITARY RANK. 

* A similar application was made in the beginning of this 
session in the lords of Great-Britain, by our illustrious countryman, 
of whom I do not wonder that my learned friend should have ob- 
served, how much virtue can fling pedigree into the sliade ; or how 
much the transient honour of a body inherited from man is ob- 
scured by the lustre of an intellect derived from God." 

OPPRESSION. 

" Merciful God! what is the state of Ireland, and where shall 
you find the wretched inhabitant of this land ! You may find him 
perhaps in a gaol, the only place of security, I had almost said of 
ordinary habitation ; you may see him flying by the conflagration 
of his own dwelling ; or you may Jind his bones bleaching on the 
green fields of his country; or he may be found tossing upon the 
surface of the ocean, and mingling his groans with those tempests, 
less savage than his persecutors, that drift him to a returnless 
distance from his family and his home.'* 

PENAL LAWS. 

" In this country penal laws had been tried beyond any exam- 
ple of any former times, what was the event? the race between 
penalty and crime was continued, each growing fiercer in the con- 
flict, until the penalty could go no further, and the fugitive turned 
u/ion the breathless pursuer" 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 305 

IMPRISONMENT. 

" To this gentleman (major Sandys) was my client consigned, 
and in his custody he remained about seven weeks, unthought of 
by the world, as if he had never existed. The oblivion of the buried 
is as profound as the oblivion of the dead; his family may have 
mourned his absence, or his probable death; but why should I 
mention so paltry a circumstance ? The fears or the sorrows of 
the wretched give no interruption to the general progress of 

things. The sun rose, and the sun set, just as it did before." 

j. 

EFFECT OF GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 

" When you endeavour to convey an idea of a great number 
of barbarians, practising a great variety of cruelties upon an incal- 
culable multitude of sufferers, nothing defined or specific finds 
its way to the heart, nor is any sentiment excited, save that of a 
general, erratic, unappropriated commiseration. If, for instance, 
you wished to convey to the mind of an English matron the hor- 
rors of that direful period; when, in defiance of the remonstrance 
of the ever-to-be-lamented Abercromby, our poor people were 
surrendered to the licentious brutality of the soldiery, by the au- 
thority of the state ; you would vainly endeavour to give her a 
general picture of lust, and rapine, and murder, and conflagration. 
By endeavouring to comprehend every thing, you would convey 
nothing. When the father of poetry wishes to pourtray the 
movements of contending armies, and an embattled field, he exem- 
plifies only, he dpes not describe ; he does not venture to describe 
the perplexed and promiscuous conflicts of adverse hosts, but by 
the acts and fates of a few individuals, he conveys a notion of the 
vicissitudes of fight and the fortunes of the day. So should your 
story to her keep clear of generalities ; instead of exhibiting the 
picture of an entire province, select a single object ; and even if 
that single object do not release the imagination of your hearer 
from its task, by giving more than an outiine, take a cottage." 

2Q 



306 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

DESCRIPTION OF THE HUSBAND OF AN ADULTRESS. 

u Do not strike him into that most dreadful of all human con- 
ditions, the orphanage that springs not from the grave, that falls not 
from the hand of Providence or the stroke of death ; but comes 
before its time, anticipated and inflicted by the remorseless cruelty 
of parental guilt. For the poor victim herself, not yet immolated, 
while yet balancing upon the pivot of her destiny, your heart could 
not be cold, nor your tongue be wordless." 

LOVE. 

" Is it love think you ? No ; do not give that name to any attrac- 
tion you can find in the faded refuse of a violated bed. Love is a 
noble and generous passion, it can be founded only on a pure and 
ardent friendship, on an exalted respect, on an implicit confidence 
in its object." 

MODERATION IN GRIEF. 

" My miserable client, when his brain was on fire, and every 
Bend of hell was let loose upon his heart, he should then, it seems, 
have placed himself before his mirror ; he should have taught the 
stream of agony to flow decorously down his forehead; he should 
have composed his features to harmony, he should have writhed 
with grace, and groaned with melody." 

DESCRIPTION OF SILENCE. 

The weakest voice is heard ; the shepherd's whistle shoots 
across the listening darkness of the interminable heath, and gives 
notice that the wolf is upon his walk, and the same gloom and 
stillness that tempt the monster to come abroad, facilitate the 
communication of the warning to beware. Yes, through that 
silence the voice shall be heard ; through that silence the shep- 
herd shall be put upon his guard." 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 307 

INSIGNIFICANT OBJECTS. 

" Is the ocean ever tossed by the tempest to waft a feather, 
Or to drown a fly? Thus haughtily and jealously I trust you will 
seek some nobler assistance than can be found in the principles or 
the practice of day rules or inside bar motions. Something more 
worthy a liberal and learned court, acting under a religious sense 
of their duty to their king, their country, and their God, than the 
feeble and pedantic aid of a stunted verbal interpretation, straining 
upon its tiptoe to peep over the syllable that stands between it and 
meaning." 

CHARACTER OF COMMON IRISH. 

" The people of our island are by nature penetrating, sagacious, 
artful, and comic** 

The fancy of Curran is of the first order, and is sometimes 
almost ungovernable : after soaring into regions of light, it some- 
times falls, as if beam -struck, to the very earth. Wilson said that 
the powers of Burke " were occasionally like the Peruvian shower, 
" that washes down gold, and mingles it with vulgar sand." Such 
too is the versatility of Curran's genius. 

A rumour has been in circulation that the foundation of the 
four courts has given way, and has caused the cracks that appear 
in the inside of the great hall. As I was so charmed with this 
magnificent building, I took considerable pains to ascertain the 
truth of this rumour, and found that it was altogether unfounded. 
The erection of this pile is within fifty feet of the river, the foun- 
dation of it is consequently in water, which made it necessary to 
lay the walls upon a grating of whole timber, and to fill the inter- 
stices with stones well bedded and cemented with mortar, to a 
level with the surface of the grating ; after which the whole was 
covered with thick plank well secured, to give a stronger base to 
the foundation. The inside of the hall is cased with cut granite 
stone, somewhat too thin in its bed, and set with too fine a joint ; 
and therefore when the superstructure was raised to the height of 
the attic, several small fissures appeared, and upon their appear- 



308 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

ance the foundation was immediately inspected, and found to be 
perfectly sound, but they have never since extended. The great 
inundation of December 1803, which carried away several bridges 
on the Liffey, and overflowed a great part of Dublin, poured into 
the area of the hall, and made it a com/ilete Roman bath, and run- 
ning into the underground apartments, occupied by the barbers, 

those 

" Mighty bits of hair 
That doctors, lawyers, and no lawyers wear," 

for want of the heads to which many of them belonged, were 
soon out of their depth. 

Till very lately Dublin had no inns of court as we have. The 
new king's inns, not yet quite finished building, from the designs 
of Mr. Gandon, promise, to augment his reputation as an archi- 
tect. This building stands at the top of Harcourt-street, and con* 
sists of a large hall, or refectory, of eighty feet long by forty feet 
wide ; the height is also forty*feet to the cove ceiling : the other 
corresponding side contains a vestibule and a library, sixty feet by 
forty. The front, which consists of the hall and library, united by 
a centre building, has a rustic basement; and in the centre is a 
large arch for the admission of carriages, and two posterns : over 
the basement are coupled Ionic columns, between which are 
niches, having tablets over them for inscriptions. On the entabla- 
ture in the centre rises a basement for a clock, adorned with sit- 
ting figures finished with a cornice ; on this is a zoculo, on which 
stands columns of the Corinthian order, with a proper entablature, 
crowned with a dome that completes the cupola. The wings, 
forming the hall and library, have two entrances; those of the 
principal front having handsome doorways, with caryatic figures. 
Over the windows are large bas relievos ; that on the dining-hall 
representing the meeting of Bacchus and Ceres ; that on the libra- 
ry emblematic of the sciences. The wings are finished with a. 
pediment, and have a ballustrade which unites \|kh the cupola. 
The ornaments are of Portland-stone, the remainder of the front 
being of mountain-granite. This building forms a centre part of 
a great quadrangle, intended as chambers for barristers, who at 
present have none. 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 309 



CHAPTER XXII. 

THE CUSTOM-HOUSE OBSERVATIONS UPON THE COLLECTION OF 

THE CUSTOMS EXPORTS AND IMPORTS WHISKY AND DRAM- 
SHOPS—INTRODUCTION OF SPIRITS IN IRELAND— THE FOUND- 
LING-HOSPITAL — OBSERVATIONS — CHARTER-SCHOOLS — SCOTCH 

HIGHLAND SOCIETY EDUCATION OF THE POOR RIDE TO 

DALKEY— THE THEATRE — PERFORMERS— GALLERY-WIT — THE 

FEMALE ORPHAN-HOUSE THE HOUSE OF INDUSTRY THE 

HARDWICKE FEVER-HOSPITAL THE HIBERNIAN SCHOOL- 
PROMPTITUDE OF WOMEN PRESENT STATE OF AGRICULTURE 

IN IRELAND— FAIR AT BALL1NASLOE RETURN TO ENGLAND. 

1 HE custom-house is a very superb building. Few capi- 
tals can boast of such an ornament : but it seems to be destined 
that the noblest edifices in Dublin should have some counteractive 
associate. The approach to the custom-house, through Lower 
Abbey-street, is filthy and offensive beyond imagination. This 
noble pile consists of two large courts, with a central building, 
enclosed by the stores and other offices at the east and west. The 
plan extends three hundred and eighty by two hundred feet: it 
would be tedious to give in detail its numerous offices. The prin- 
cipal front to the south, which claims most attention, is an octan- 
gular vestibule of Bath-stone, on the first floor, with Doric columns. 
This room is lighted from a cone ceiling, decorated with emblems 
of commerce and other ornaments. It leads to the import-room, 
commonly called the long-room, seventy-five feet square, divided 
by rows of columns on each side, leaving an area of forty feet 
wide and thirty high. The columns are of Bath-stone standing on 
pedestals ; behijpd which are the desks and other accommodations 
for the different officers, and a sufficient space for transacting 
business. There is a beautiful staircase which communicates from 
the north end of this room, built of Bath-stone, decorated with 



310 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

composite columns, the capitals of which are composed of naval 
emblems. From this staircase you pass by an anti leading to the 
board-room in the north front, the lower part of which is appro- 
priated to secretaries* apartments, with residences for the commis- 
sioners at each end. This building has the advantage of four fronts, 
of which that towards the south is of Portland-stone. The princi* 
pal, or south front, situated towards the river, is composed of 
pavilions at each end, with insulated columns. The basement is 
united with the centre building by rusticated arcades : this part is 
likewise composed of insulated columns, besides the portico in 
the middle, which consists of four columns. The order is Doric, 
and finished with an entablature, having a bold projecting cornice. 
Over the portico there is a pediment with figures in alto-relievo, 
composed by Carlini, but executed by Smith, an Irish artist, 
whose genius does honour to his native country : the subject is 
Hibernia and Britannia united, holding in their hands the respec- 
tive emblems of peace and liberty : they are seated in a naval car, 
drawn by sea-horses, and accompanied by tritons, followed by a 
fleet of merchant ships, loaded with the produce of different na- 
tions, and wafted by the trade-winds. On the right hand of Britan- 
nia, Neptune is seen driving away envy and discord. On the attic 
story over the pediment are placed four allegorical statues, allud- 
ing to industry, commerce, wealth, and navigation. A cupola, one 
hundred and twenty -five feet from the base of the building, hand- 
somely decorated with Corinthian columns, finishes the centre, on 
the top of which is placed a pedestal, with a colossal statue re- 
presenting commerce. 

The pavilions and arcades are finished with a balustrade ; the 
centres of the pavilions are terminated with the arms of Ireland in 
an elliptical shield, decorated with festoons of fruit and flowers, and 
supported by the lion and unicorn, forming a group of bold and 
massy ornaments. The principal entrances are ascended to by a 
flight of steps ; the key-stones are decorated with colossal heads, 
emblematic of the produce of the principal rivers of Ireland and 
the country through which they flow, strongly characteristic of 
each. They were designed and executed by Mr. Edward Smith- 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 311 

before mentioned, in a bold and masterly manner. This building, 
which may be considered the chefd'ceuvre of Mr. Gandon was 
begun in the year 1781, and is remarkable for the grandeur and 
beauty of its outlines, and the elegance of its parts. 

The collection of the customs in Ireland is attended with more 
expense than in England. A single distiller there pays more duty 
than an extensive tract of country in Ireland. One officer only is 
required to inspect the former, whereas forty or fifty are abso- 
lutely necessary to watch the latter. There are twenty -six ports 
in Ireland, of which nineteen do not produce a revenue equal to 
guarding them and collecting the duty ; and the whole balance in 
the public favour arises from seven ports, Dublin, Cork, Water- 
ford, Belfast, Limerick, Derry, and Newry, though the necessity 
of watching the inferior ports is attended with very great expense. 
There are immense tracts of country in Ireland uninhabited, or 
very thinly inhabited, which yield no revenue at all, and yet officers 
must be maintained in them to prevent smuggling and fraudulent 
distilling. England has a market for the whole world : goods have 
been imported there, and paid heavy duties, for the purpose of 
re-exportation when those duties are drawn back. This increases 
her fictitious revenue, though it does not add one farthing to the 
real one; and reduces the relative proportion of expense in the col- 
lection. The revenue-board of Ireland, which was originally consti- 
tuted for revenue business only, has had the business and expense 
of the state heaped upon it. The expence of passing bills, and sun- 
dry matters of law business, which have gradually accumulated to 
a very large sum annually, and even the expresses which govern- 
ment send to different places, are paid by the revenue-board. AH 
these amount to a very large sum, and they are charged to the 
expense of collecting the revenue, though they have no concern 
with it. It has been asserted that balances remain in the collectors' 
hands to the great injury of government; but the fact is, the col- 
lectors of Dublin pay their receipts daily, and the country col- 
lectors weekly, to the receiver-general. 



312 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 



Official Value of the Imports and Exports of Ireland, in the Year 

ended 5 th January, 1806. 
Imports - £.5,982,194- 

Exports. — Irish produce and manufacture 5,059,967 

British and foreign ditto - 142,418 5,202,385 



Excess of Imports 



£. 779,809 



In the last official return under the above head to the imperial 
parliament, the export at real value is introduced, but the real 
value of the import omitted. Such a statement, though it cannot 
be supposed to be intended to mislead, has a tendency to prevent 
a just conclusion from being drawn. 

Number of Gallons of Irish distilled Spirits exported in the Year 

ended 5th January, 1806. 

Gallons 1,044,548 

Quantity of Corn, ground and unground, exported from Ireland, 
in the Years ended 5th January, 1805 and 1806. 

Years ended 5th January, 
1805 1806 






Unground 



Ground. 



f Barley 
j Beans 
J Oats . 
] Peas . 
Rye . 
[.Wheat 
C Flour 
/ Oatmeal 



. Barrels 
. do. 
. do. 
. do. 
. do. 
. do. 
. cwt. 
. cwt. 



. . 17,560 


30,140 


3,947 


4,670 


. . 372,690 


346,244 


2,545 


3,575 


600 


532 


. . 152,828 


134,871 


. . 21,593 


22,774 


. . 67,233 


34,297 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 



313 



Quantity of Provisions and Corn exported from the Ports of Dub- 
lin, Cork, Waterford, and Belfast, in the Years ended 5th 
January, 1805 and 1806. 

Years ended 5th Jan, 



805 



1806 



5,828 


14,094 


96 




74,742 


73,926 


631 


310 


561 


532 


90,703 


78,043 


18,728 


18,150 


4,368 


8,467 


85,158 


169,335 


1,449 


1,312 


63,589 


89,171 


9,836 


8,759 


252,131 


222,814 


9 


59 


59,637 


77,075 


678 


516 


2,377 


2,630 



Barley Barrels 

Beans ditto 

Oats ditto 

Peas ditto 

Rye ditto 

Wheat ditto 

Flour cwt. 

Oatmeal cwt. 

Bacon $™ tche V ■ • No / 
I Hams, kc. . cwt. 

Beef Barrels 

Bread cwt. 

Butter cwt. 

Cheese cwt. 

Pork Barrels 

Potatoes Tons 

Tongues doz. 



This official return will furnish the reader with a high idea of 
the vast natural resources of Ireland. 

The excessive use of whiskey in Dublin cannot fail of attract- 
ing the attention of a stranger, where this deleterious liquor is 
now, by act of parliament, distilled from raw oats ; deriving occa- 
sional additional strength from a mixture of aquafortis or vitriol. 
The number of shops where this liquid poison and other drams, 
almost equally hostile to morals and life, are sold, is truly shock- 
ingly great. In Thomas-street every other house seemed to be a 
dram-shop. Mr. Whitelaw states, that in this street alone, com- 
posed of one hundred and ninety houses, a place of great con- 
course on account of its being the termination of the great 
southern and western roads, there were in 1798, and I believe at 
this day there are no less than fifty -two houses licensed to vend 
raw spirits. The license amounts to forty pounds. That a revenue 
derived from such a source can be an object worthy of encour- 
agement with a^wise government, it is impossible to believe : it 
might as well impose a tax upon coffins, and inoculate all its sub- 

2 R 



314 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

jects -with the plague. One of these shops a few years since had 
great custom, on account of the keeper of it offering a gratuitous 
funeral to those who died of drinking in it. 

Strong penal laws, and an encouragement of the consumption 
of porter, can alone cure this evil. The effect of an act of parlia- 
ment passed for the suppression of private distilleries, which levied 
severe penalties on the consumers of whisky not sold at licensed 
distilleries, doubled the consumption of porter in one month at a 
porter brewery, which has been recently established in the north 
of Ireland. Unfortunately the excise-officers, owing to their being 
inadequately paid, are too often in league with the private distil- 
leries. In Dublin, I am well informed, every measure hitherto 
taken has failed in effectually correcting the use of spirits. The 
priest has been more effective than the legislature : his prohibi- 
tions against the consumption of liquors for one, two, or three 
months, are seldom, if ever, violated. Dr. Ledwich says, that " it 
" was about the middle of the twelfth century the distillation of 
" ardent spirits was introduced. For some time they were used 
" only as a medicine, and their operation in preserving health, 
" prolonging life, dissipating humours, strengthening the stomach, 
" curing the colic, dropsy, palsy, quartan fever and stone, were 
" firmly believed on the faith of physicians, and made them 
" eagerly sought for : they were dignified with the name of aqua 
" vita:, or eau-de-vie. At what time this liquor reached Ireland, is 
w not ascertained ; when it did it received an equivalent appella- 
" lation, that of uisgebeatha, usquebah, or more simply whisky. 
" From the citation before from Stanihurst, it appears to have 
" been generally, but rather medicinally taken ; for Spanish wine 
" was in the greatest request, for which we gave our peltry, our 
" only riches. Moryson says they preferred their usquebah to the 
" English aqua vitae, because by mingling raisins, fennel-seeds, 
« and other things, they mitigated its heat, made it more pleasant, 
" less inflaming, and more refreshing to a weak stomach. From 
" hence it appears, the Irish themselves distilled a spirit from 
" malt in 1590, and imitated foreign liquors by adding aromatic 
" seeds and spices, as was practised in France, so early, according 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 315 

" to Le Grand, as 1313. The Irish bulcaan, Rutty tells us, was 
4i made from black oats. Buile, madness, and Cecum, the head, 
" allude to the violent effects of this fiery spirit. The nectar of 
" the Irish was composed of honey, wine, ginger, pepper, and 
" cinnamon: this was piment. The French poets of the thirteenth 
" century speak of it with rapture, as being most delicious. They 
" regarded, as the very perfection of human ingenuity, the union 
" of the juice and spirit of the grape, with the perfume of foreign 
" aromatics, so highly prized and so dear, in the same liquor." 

The Irish ale is considered good, but it was much better 
when there were more private breweries, the numbers of which 
are much lessened by some late restrictions. The county of 
Wicklow has been long famous for its ale, and that of Castlebel- 
lingham is thought remarkably good. Mead was formerly the 
favourite beverage of the Irish, and is still drank in many families 
in the country as a substitute for wine. 

The foundling hospital is well worthy the attention of a stranger. 
It stands in a healthy elevated situation on Mount Brown, in St. 
James's-street, and is an enormous pile of building, not yet com- 
pleted, which will hold four thousand seven hundred children when 
finished, and will be inferior only to the foundling hospital at Peters- 
burgh. This institution is supported by a tax upon Dublin, and the 
deficiency, if any, is made up by the crown. In this asylum all the 
foundlings of Ireland, and, I am told, many of Scotland (smuggled 
over) are received and nurtured. The institution within appeared 
to be very humanely conducted. There were only six hundred 
children in the hospital when I visited it : there are nine female 
and four male schools. The dormitories were remarkably clean ; 
the bedsteads were not of iron, but are to be. In the school-rooms 
there is an improper mixture of the children who spin, with those 
who are learning their lessons : the spinners ought to have sepa- 
rate rooms. The teachers are inadequately paid : twenty pounds 
a year, and their lodging, are too little. The provision allowance 
to the children is liberal : the children at breakfast and supper 
have as much bread and milk as they can use, and at dinner, beef, 
cabbage, and other vegetables, three times a week, and good broth 



316 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND, 

on the other days, and are allowed one pound of bread per day, 
instead of potatoes. The dining-hall, when finished, will be a very 
noble room ; it is about one hundred and forty feet long, forty wide, 
and thirty -six high : the chapel will also be very elegant. All within 
the walls appeared to be unobjectionable; but I must confess I think 
the very principle of the institution a bad one. In the first place it is 
unjust that Dublin should support all the foundlings of the country, 
exclusive of others sent over from Scotland : in the next, many of 
the children are brought from remote parts of the island, by a 
description of people whose trade it is to convey them, and who 
receive an allowance from the hospital, provided the infant is de- 
livered alive : the temptation to cruelty, and a denial of proper nur- 
ture on the road, is great : and thirdly, when the infants, or, as they 
are commonly called, parisheens, are sent out to nurse, for which 
there is an allowance to the country nurse for wet and dry 
nursing, feeding, and clothing, of five pounds for the first year, 
and three pounds for every succeeding year till the child be 
returned at the age of nine, such nurse is obliged to produce 
her child once every year to the hospital, in order to obtain 
her salary. These objections are at once obvious, and, in my 
humble opinion, fatal to the prosperity of an institution, the ob- 
ject of which does so much honour to the country. I feel much 
pleasure in observing, that I am indebted to Mr. James Buchanan, 
a very eminent linen-bleacher in the county of Tyrone, who has 
long turned his attention to the condition of the poor in Ireland, 
for a remedy at once easy and effective. He proposes the conver- 
sion of charter-schools, which are now so grievously neglected, 
into foundling asylums, and work-houses, and that each parish 
shall pay a certain proportionate sum for the number of its child- 
ren admitted, and have by legislative provision a claim upon the 
father of such child, if he can be discovered. These charter-schools 
are at present the most infamous jobs; they cost the country thirty 
thousand pounds per annum, and are scarcely productive of any 
good. I could instance several, each of which has lands for its 
support, producing more than fifteen hundred pounds per annum, 
at which not one poor scholar is educated, but which are enjoyed, 
in addition to some rich living, by rectors of distant parishes. The 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 317 

whole expense of prosecuting plans for the education of the poor, 
including the charter-schools, is little less than seventy thousand 
pounds per annum, and the number of children educated is about 
one thousand six hundred; whereas, by the returns of the Scotch 
Highland Society, it appears that twelve thousand four hundred 
and sixty poor children are taught to read, write, the necessary 
principles of arithmetic, and are instructed in religion and morals, 
at an annual expense not exceeding three thousand fiounds. 

With respect to the education of the poor of Ireland, Mr. 
Buchanan recommends, that under the inspection and care of a 
society of gentlemen, one or more school-houses shall be establish- 
ed in each parish according to its extent, with a schoolmaster's 
house attached to it; that each inhabitant within a parish, or 
other person having property therein, shall, for every annual sum 
of five shillings, have the liberty of recommending one child ; 
that the children shall be taught to read, and that no tract or cate- 
chism, of any religious sect or party, shall be admitted under any 
pretence whatever, and that the holy scriptures shall alone be 
read; that the children admitted shall pay to the master one 
penny per week, or one shilling per quarter, in aid of their edu- 
cation, and towards supplying them with books. 

Too much commendation cannot be bestowed upon the Hiber- 
nian society, instituted in London in 1805, the object of which is 
to enlighten and civilize the rude peasantry of Ireland. If the 
members of this association can execute what they have so ably 
designed, they will spread happiness over that too neglected 
country; its blessings at all events belong to their noble motive 
During my stay in Ireland I was remarkably fortunate in the 
weather. Before I set off for the north, I rode down to Dalkey, 
about two miles and a half beyond the black rock. This beautiful 
and romantic little village commands a fine view of the bay of 
Dublin, and is remarkable for having the remains of seven castles, 
and an old church. During the reign of queen Elizabeth, and a 
great part of the last century, before the port of Dublin was im- 
proved, it was the repository of the goods belonging to the mer 
chants of Dublin, and was defended against the attack of pirates,. 



318 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

who at that time infested the Irish coast, by these castles, the 
venerable remains of which, interspersed amongst very neat lodg- 
ing-houses, the romantic rocks behind, and the martello towers, 
the bay and the hill of Howth, form an enchanting prospect. Near 
this place is the island of Dalkey, which it is thought would make 
an excellent harbour for the packets to and from Holyhead : all 
this coast is singularly beautiful. 

In the evening I was at the theatre, which had just been open- 
ed, after having undergone considerable alterations. The inside 
of the house is spacious, well arranged, and very elegantly deco- 
rated: the lord-lieutenant was present in state, attended by his 
aid-de-camps and the officers of the household : the decorations 
of the viceregal box were tasteful and splendid. The perform- 
ers were tolerably good. Mrs. Edwin, in Mrs. Jordan's style, 
is admirable. The Olympian part of the audience here, as in 
London, carry every thing before them, and frequently display 
their native turn of drollery. One night as the first duet in Blue 
Beard was singing, which in a silly manner terminates with " pit 
a pat," a fellow roared out, " Arrah by my shoul ! then my honey 
** down with Pitt, and up with Pat." They also relate a story, 
that when the duke of Rutland, during his lord-lieutenancy, was 
at the play without his dutchess, who was in England, a man in 
the upper gallery roared out, " Who slept at Peg Plunket's last 
night?" " Manners, Manners, you blackguard," said another fel- 
low: the joke Was not understood by the greater part of the 
liouse, but the duke never went to the play afterwards. Consider- 
ing how full of even Gallic gaiety and comic humour the Irish are, 
it is a matter of surprise, that there should be only one theatre, 
and so very few Irish dramatic writers. Almost every Parisian is a 
dramatic author, and at one time, two and twenty theatres in Paris 
were crowded every night of their performance. 

The day after I was at the theatre I visited one of the neatest 
and most respectable public charitable institutions I saw in Dublin, 
the Female Orphan-house, upon the circular road, of which Mrs. 
Peter Latcuche is vice-president: there are one hundred and 

nty-five ffirls'who have been received from five to ten years 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 319 

old, and are kept until they are sixteen or seventeen ; they learn 
reading, writing, accounts, and needle work ; the produce of the 
latter for the last year amounted to two hundred and forty pounds : 
the dress is a green gown with white cuffs. All the children, 
looked healthy and happy, and every part of the establishment did 
honour to the care and humanity of Mrs. Threlkeld, the super- 
intending governess. This charity is supported by subscription, 
and a grant from parliament : in the late dean Kirwan it had a holy, 
eloquent, and all -protective patron. 

The house of industry is upon a vast scale : under its roof are 
schools for pauper children, and wards for mendicants who have 
voluntarily entered, or who have been committed. The children 
learn various trades, and are distributed into taylors, shoemakers, 
weavers, and combmakers' shops. In the yards there is a sad and 
perilous occasional mixture of children with those prostitutes and 
vagabonds, who seemed to work just as they pleased, and dis- 
played much filth, and equal indecorum. In all other respects the 
children appeared to be admirably taken care of and instructed. 
The sewers were very offensive : if the objects of this institution 
were distinctly and separately classed, and a less relaxed discipline 
observed, it would be more answerable to the beneficent wishes of 
those gentlemen who have so humanely made it the subject of 
their care. 

The Hardwicke fever-hospital, erected in 1803, appeared to 
be well arranged: in the lunatic ward I was much pleased with 
observing, that the bad and convalescent patients were separated, 

Upon visiting the Hibernian-school for soldiers' children, I 
Was surprised to find that the boys, as they grow up, are appren- 
ticed to trades, or hired as servants, instead of being allowed to 
go into the army. Boys properly educated would, in all proba- 
bility, soon become excellent non-commissioned officers, and this 
institution might prove a valuable military nursery. The number 
of boys under this roof on the 31st December, 1805, amounted to 
two hundred and seventy-one ; the girls to one hundred and three, 
in all three hundred and seventy-four. They appeared to be kind 
Iv and humanelv taken care of. 



320 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

It was with great pleasure that I visited Bushy Park, the seat 
of Robert Shaw, Esq. member for the city of Dublin, whose, 
amiable lady and her sister-in-law I found in a school near the 
mansion, surrounded by sixty girls: the children of the neigh- 
bouring peasantry, who are instructed in the useful parts of 
education, are provided with clothes according to their merit, and 
with food at the expense of Mrs. Shaw. Amongst the children 
there are only three protestants: to banish ignorance and super- 
stition by useful instruction ; to supersede habits of sloth and vice 
by those of an opposite tendency ; to make good members of soci- 
ety and not converts, are the cordial objects of this enlightened and 
excellent lady. Let not those who have never exercised such bene- 
volent labours as these, think the office a light one, which erects 
a system upon the best, but least regulated feelings of our nature, 
which unites anxiety with pity, method with zeal, and order with 
generosity. Whilst grave politicians with cold procrastinating 
logic are projecting and discussing systems of amelioration for 
the wretched, it seems destined that these solemn patriots shall 
be preceded by the active, noble enthusiasm of those to whom 
we owe our greatest measure of felicity here, who act whilst we 
calculate, and frequently leave us to wake from our boasted proud 
pre-eminence of wisdom, to rub our eyes, and find the work upon 
which we have laboured in thought so long, already accomplished 
with all the detail of ardour, and with that promptitude which is 
the best, because the most seasonable relief of the miserable. 

After examining this admirable private charity, I proceeded to 
Rathfarnham-house, the seat of George Grierson, Esq., one of the 
first experimental farmers in Ireland, and visited one of his farms 
called Woodlands. The success of this gentleman holds out the 
strongest invitation to agriculture in Ireland. Nature, as if pleased 
with attentions, never fails to remunerate by her bounties those 
who pay court to her. 

Mr. Grierson, by pursuing the improved system of agriculture, 
has brought a rude farm of two hundred acres, originally occupied 
by whins, into a state of high cultivation. This farm lies on the 
side of a hill, a north-east aspect, and is an inclined plane from top 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 321 

to bottom, about two miles from the village of Rathfarnham, and 
five from Dublin ; the rent three pounds ten shillings an acre. The 
quality is a gravelly loam ; the upper part argillaceous, the lower 
lime-stone and gravel. 

His first plan was to surround it with a belt of plantation of eighty- 
feet in width, through which there is a very delightful ride, and 
after perfectly fencing and draining each field in rotation, he pur- 
sued with little deviation four shift course of crops : the first year 
he took a crop of lea-oats ; the second, manured highly with dung 
and compost for drilled turnips or potatoes, at about thirty inches 
between the drills ; he then laid down with barley or oats, and 
grass-seeds (one bushel of ray -grass, and twenty-one pounds of 
red clover, to the Irish acre); then he took two cuttings of the 
clover and ray grass, one for hay and the other for green food; and 
in October following sowed wheat, or in the spring, oats, or the 
clover-lea, with one ploughing, and then commenced the same 
course with manured turnips again. After ample trial, this system 
of alternate green and white crops has been found to ameliorate 
the land, and at the same time make the greatest return. To 
maintain a rotation of crops, three-fourths of the farm should be in 
tillage, and an immediate succession of white crops ought to be 
prohibited by covenant. 

Last year (1805) he obtained a premium from the Farming 
Society of Ireland for the best seed-oats ; and in the autumn of the 
same year he got a premium for the best seed-wheat (white Lam- 
mas); eight acres under this crop produced fifteen barrels, one 
stone, and ten pounds per Irish acre : the barrel twenty stone, at 
fourteen pound to the stone : the wheat was sold at fifty shillings 
per barrel, and the straw was worth ten pounds per acre, which 
was considered to be a very good return. In the spring succeeding 
the sowing of the wheat, he laid it down with clover and ray -grass 
as before, and expects in the second week of this instant, June, to 
mow five tons of hay per acre at the first cutting, and half that 
quantity at the second cutting. 

Hay generally sells in Dublin at about four pounds per ton y 
frequently at five pounds. Mr. Grierson usually keeps from eighty 

2 S 



322 THE STRANGER Itf IRELAND, 

to one hundred head of store cattle through the winter in his straw- 
yard, (which affords a prodigious quantity of manure) besides 
what he stall-feeds in his sheds, which are admirably constructed 
for feeding: the feeding-house is eighteen feet wide; before the 
beasts is a line of troughs* running the whole length of the house, 
through which there constantly runs a stream of water, which is 
covered by a moveable board, for the cattle to eat their hay and 
-turnips off, which is easily removed to water them: at the outside 
of the troughs, at the head of the cattle, is a gangway four feet 
wide, for a passage for the turnip-barrow, &c. 

This gentleman's cattle are of the long-horned Leicestershire 
breed, improved originally by the celebrated Mr. Bakewell; 
for these he has succeeded in obtaining premiums, as well as 
for his pigs, which are of the improved Leicestershire breed. 
His sheep are of the South Down breed ; last year he got three 
shillings and sixpence per pound for wool, and the carcass ap- 
peared to be improving. At the famous cattle-market at Ballina- 
sloe, he exhibited two shear-wethers, the weight of carcass of each 
of which was twenty-four pounds, and the fat (including kidney 
fat) nineteen pounds : he has lately got two Suffolk punch-mares, 
and a stallion of the same breed, which are thought to be very- 
superior for draft ; and, from their combining strength with activity., 
admirably adapted to the country. 

The practice of irrigation has been much pursued for many 
years in the neighbourhood of Dublin, by tlfe poorer description of 
farmers, who inhabit the sides of hills, and who have not been able 
to manure their lands in any other way : but within these last ten 
years this system has attracted the attention of many wealthy and 
enlightened occupiers of land, and is extending on scientific prin- 
ciples every day. The efficacy of it will inevitably be found much 
greater in Ireland than in any part of Great Britain, on account of 
the generality of upland grounds in the former, consisting of cal- 
careous matter, such as lime-stone, gravel, &c, from whence the 
streams descend highly impregnated with manure: it is generally- 
observed that the most limpid springs have the best effect ia 
irrigation. 






THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 323 

The generality of the mountain-ground in Ireland is capable 
of a considerable degree of cultivation, and upon it, larch, and 
other scarce timber, will always flourish. 

Since the union the pries of land has increased very considera- 
bly ; but it is generally believed not in consequence of that measure, 
but from the high price of grain, occasioned by the scarcity of 
the year I 800 and 1801, the increase of capital from the unlimited 
issue of paper money, and latterly by the English market being 
made more accessible by the late acts, which have raised the price 
at which grain may be exported to Great Britain. 

In addition to the high price of grain having caused a great 
increase of tillage, many gentlemen have lately extended their 
tillage, on account of the advantage of having turnips or other 
green food for their cattle during the winter and spring ; a practice, 
strange to relate ! not thought of till recommended by the Farm- 
ing Society of Ireland, instituted in 1800, and pursued with advan- 
tage by some of its leading members. There are now many gra- 
ziers, possessing thousands of acres of the finest land in Ireland, 
who have never grown a turniji, or broke an acre of their land: their 
custom is, and ever has been, to purchase a beast, or five sheep 
nearly for each acre at the May fairs, and leave them to take care 
of themselves till the following Christmas, or spring, without 
shelter, hay, or turnips. An English farmer would scarcely believe 
this ; and it can only be done in Ireland, where from the moisture 
and mildness of the climate, the grass is always growing. 

Since the formation of the Farming Society of Ireland in 1800, 
an extraordinary spirit for farming has spread itself, which is 
manifested more forcibly every year at the meetings for the ex- 
hibition of cattle, which are always numerously attended. The 
great object of this institution is to promote the improvement of 
husbandry : a measure of the last consequence to Ireland, where 
the best land is still almost without exception under pasture, which, 
on account of its affording no employment to the peasantry, (for 
one man and boy will herd a thousand acres) is a wide and fatal 
source of penury and depopulation. 

The average price of labour throughout the kingdom is eight 



324 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

pence per day, except in harvest-time, when it is nearly doubled, 
and in some places nearly trebled. 

The improvement in the breed of swine has been very great. 
In the report of one of the meetings of the Farming Society at 
Ballinasloe in October 1802, it is whimsically stated, that " a 
" most zealous and enterprising member of the society sustained 
" a great loss by the death of an uncommon fine boar, who was 
" unfortunately suffocated on his way to the show." 

At the great fair at Ballinasloe, which is held annually the 5th 
of October, sixty thousand sheep, and forty thousand head of 
black cattle are sold upon an average. 

After a very interesting tour in the north, in which I visited 
the Lough Neagh, the marvellous pillars of the giant's causeway, 
the basaltic shores of the county of Antrim, Belfast, and the prin- 
cipal towns in that flourishing part of the island, I returned to 
Dublin, and prepared with regret to quit a country which delight- 
ed and astonished me with its richness, variety, genius, and capa- 
city, and attached me by an unceasing display of courtesies and 
attentions. 

I went to Ireland a total stranger, with a letter of introduction 
from that revered nobleman to whom I have the pride and hap- 
piness of addressing these pages, to one whom he has honoured 
with his cordial attachment for many years, Joseph Atkinson, esq., 
whom I have mentioned before ; a gentleman whose literary repu- 
tation has enrolled him amongst the distinguished characters of 
his country, and whose liberal mind, generous disposition, suavity 
of temper, and courteous manners, expanded and finished by 
military habit, and by travel, have endeared him to a larger circle of 
cordial friends, than usually fails to the felicity of one person : by 
his interest and attention, and the native liberal spirit of the coun- 
try, I was enabled to contemplate all that was interesting in the 
course of my tour with facility and accommodation, which it is not 
always the good fortune of a stranger to enjoy, but which he may 
calculate upon with greater certainty in Ireland than in any other 
country I have visited. 

I was disappointed only in one instance; I quitted Ireland 
without hearing one bull. 

t 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 



GENERAL REMARKS. 

UPON the subject of ameliorating the condition of the 
poor of Ireland much has been said, much written, and but little 
done. The project is pregnant with difficulty, but is so interwoven 
with our best feelings and wishes for the welfare of our kindred 
and our country, that he who can offer but one serviceable thought 
upon such a subject, or excite others to consider it, is powerfully 
impelled to produce the result of his observation or reflection, and 
will at least be heard with attention. 

The following brief remarks arise from what I saw, and have 
in part described, and what I heard from the accurate and intelli- 
gent sources of information in Ireland, where I had the pleasure 
of mingling with many distinguished men, who were more agreed 
in paying those courteous attentions to a stranger, which so emi- 
nently distinguish Irishmen, than in their opinions respecting the 
interest of their own country. I particularly sought the society of 
opposite parties, because the collision of opinion frequently elicits 
a spark by which a subject is afterwards more or less illuminated, 

PARTY OPINIONS. 

One party was for repressing the catholics, and compared them 
to nettles, which never sting but when they are gently touched; 
the other was favourable to every mild indulgence, and was anx- 
ious to ameliorate the condition the poor, by detaching the rising 
veneration from the faith of their fathers : each aimed, I am con- 
fident, at the gocd of their country; and neither ought to be the 
object of animadversion. If I were not naturally, as well as upon 
principle, an enemy to coercion and intolerance as reforming in- 
struments, the mere circumstance of their having been tried with- 
out success, would remove me from the side of their partizans. 



326 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

HIGH AND MIDDLING CLASSES. 

The great object of interest and attention in Ireland is the pre- 
sent condition of that vast portion of the population comprising the 
lower order of its community. Education, travel, and intercourse, 
render the higher pretty nearly the same in all countries. The 
middling classes of society in Ireland are, I was informed from 
good authority, much improved within the space of twenty years. 
In the proprieties of deportment and dress, I saw no difference 
between them and those of the same rank in England. 

THE LOWER CLASSES OF IRISH. 

With the progress of refinement the lower orders have un- 
doubtedly advance d, though not pari passu : this is manifested by 
a dereliction of some of their customs, which had a strong tenden- 
cy to imbrute the observers of them, and of many of those super- 
stitious habits which belonged to the darkest ages of bigotry. These 
observations were confirmed by lord Hardwicke, the late viceroy, 
who informed me, that several years before he was appointed to 
the lord lieutenancy, he had made the tour of Ireland, and could 
attest the improvement, more or less expanded, which he saw 
upon his return to assume the administration of the country. 

It may be asked, if the character of the lower Irish be what I 
have depicted ; and if, when they are hungry, they can get pota- 
toes to eat, and butter-milk or water to drink, what more can you 
wish? Rousseau would have been satisfied with them. The quali- 
ties which I have described, and supported by illustrations founded 
on facts, are fresh from the hand of nature. Without guidance, 
that native generosity, warmth of heart, and fire of imagination, 
are liable, upon being agitated, to break out into impetuosity and 
excesses, as they unfortunately did in those scenes which now, it 
may be confidently expected, will have no return — that guidance 
is education. 

Many are the instances in the history of the lower order oX the 
Irish people, when, prompted by that sensibility which Providence 
has, either in its bounty or anger (for to me it is questionable), 
largely bestowed upon them, and by a rude notion of retributive 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 327 

justice, they have assumed the law into their hands, and carved 
out the measure of their own justice : hence those restless insur- 
rectional associations denominated White-boys, Oak-boys, Steel- 
boys, Peep-o'-day-boys, &c. and the occasional attempts which 
have been made, by the summary process of force, to regain pos- 
session of estates which, if they had not been confiscated about a 
century or two back, would have belonged by hereditary right 
to those who sought these means to repossess them. What but 
deplorable ignorance could have urged men to act in this manner, 
and could have veiled from their sight the hopeless folly and mad- 
ness of such an enterprise ? 

The simplicity of the food of the Irish peasant, as society is 
constructed, is the natural consequence, and an undeniable indica- 
tion of his abject condition. When he is hungry, he can fill him- 
self with potatoes ; so can his hog, and they sleep in the same 
stye together. Much as I have reason to doubt the invigorating 
nature of potatoes under severe toil, were the fact otherwise, as 
long as the exclusive use of them as food characterised a degraded 
peasantry, so long would I wish to see a more luxurious aliment 
used. The peasantry of England would not live upon it, because 
their encouraged industry enables them to obtain at least more 
substantial food. 

Education has never beamed upon the poor Irishman ; sen- 
timents of honour have never been instilled into him; and a 
spirit of just and social pride, improvement, and enterprise, have 
never opened upon him. The poor Irishman looks around him, 
and sees a frightful void between him and those who, in well 
regulated communities, ought to be separated from each other 
only by those gentle shades of colouring that unite the brown 
russet to the imperial purple: he has no more power of raising 
himself than an eagle whose wings have been half shorn of their 
plumage. The legislature has rarely noticed him but in anger, when 
that ignorance, which it has never stooped to remove, has pre- 
cipitated him into acts incompatible with social tranquillity, and 
repugnant to his nature. But what good, it will be asked, can 
arise; nay, by how much the more do you not increase his 



328 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

wretchedness, if you improve his mind without improving his con- 
dition i To this the history of mankind furnishes a prompt and 
powerful answer — that situation is subservient to mind. If his 
mind were cultivated, it would lead him to explore the means of 
improving the soil, of practising trade, or pursuing, with additional 
zeal and increased knowledge, some occupation by which society is 
to be benefited : he would combine, he would compare, he would 
raise himself in the scale of society ; he would be proud and con- 
fident in, and would enjoy the situation to which he might attain ; 
his children would be more and more enlightened, and more and 
more valuable to the community. Well, then, it is agreed that his 
ignorance shall be dissipated; but you find he is a catholic and an 
adult, and you do not think that he can either become an enlightened 
man or a good subject, therefore you give up the father, and resolve 
upon educating his child. A protestant school is opened for the 
gratuitous instruction of protestant and catholic children. It is 
stipulated that the latter shall in future be reared up in the same 
faith with the protestant pupils ; or, if you tell the catholic parent 
that the religion of his offspring shall receive no bias, you secretly 
aim at effecting a conformation, by associating them with a larger 
number of protestant children. Proselytism is either the avowed 
object, or the latent wish of your heart: — what says the priest to 
the father? He naturally thinks his own religion the best, and he 
knows that a catholic child sent to a protestant school, constituted 
as it in general is, may become a protestant, and that he shall in 
consequence lose one of his flock, who in a few years would con- 
tribute toward his support ; he therefore advises the father not to 
send the child : the father is in general very submissive to the 
priest, and is also naturally desirous that his child should be 
brought up in his own faith. Let us, by the converse, just see if 
this is not perfectly natural: suppose, if the legislature did not 
resist, that in this country a catholic man of fortune were to open 
a school for the gratuitous education of poor protestant children, 
with a professed object of converting such children to the catholic 
church; would not the protestant pulpit fulminate its thunders 
against the project ; and what protestant father, however abject 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 329 

fcis situation, would send his child there ? Let us be indulgent to 
the prejudices which habit engenders. 

Not only is a deaf ear turned to the voice of nature, and not 
only are religious habits wounded, but the very genius of the 
people is not consulted. The low Irish have the pride which is 
generally the companion of sensibility, and where they know a 
school to be purely eleemosynary, although it may not profess to 
aim at religious conversion, they have been known to exhibit a 
disinclination to send their children, merely because that spirit 
was not complimented with being thought capable of administer- 
ing in some degree to the expense of their education: this is a 
minor consideration, but not unworthy of introduction. I may differ 
from many persons upon this important subject, and I know I do 
with many with whom I conversed in Ireland upon it; but I am. 
persuaded that this avowed or clandestine spirit of proselytism, 
with which almost every boon is extended to the low catholic Irish, 
will render the present system of amelioration either abortive, or 
narrow its proposed advantages, until they become scarcely ac- 
ceptable, and that nothing but a frank and liberal system, which 
shall be wholly free from the sus/iicion of aiming at religious con- 
version, directly or indirectly, can promote the great object of 

enlightening the poorer classes of society in Ireland. 

/ 

THE CATHOLIC PRIESTS. 

It has been a topic frequently agitated, that the priests possess 
unlimited powers over the minds of the poor: I am far from 
giving implicit credit to all the stories which have been related 
upon this subject; I believe, however, they possess considerable 
influence ; but over what does it extend ? not over the enlightened 
mind. That the influence of the catholic priest is not invulnerable, 
is evident from the trial at Cork, the result of which I have men- 
tioned was unfavourable to a priest, and the White-boys frequently 
resisted their priests when they thought them oppressive. Educa- 
tion is a crucible which separates the dross of superstition from 
the purity of religion : when its light beams upon the cloister, the 
cowled mummery of the monastery retires, like those animals that 



330 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

prowl only in the night, dazzled and confounded at the approach 
of clay. Disloyal priests had no influence upon that scanty group 
of insurgents of education, family, and property, which headed the 
late troubles; the former were engines in the hands of the latter, 
only to fashion the lower classes of the community to their foul 
design : the fanatic freaks and exploits of father Murphy would 
have excited the risibility of Emmett, had they met. 

It is only to the lower orders of the catholic priesthood that my 
remarks apply ; for the higher have, by the dignity of their de- 
portment and the purity of their morals, engaged the attention and 
regard of protestants distinguished for their probity, rank, and 
property in Ireland, with whom they familiarly associate. An 
Englishman who has never visited Ireland, would perhaps be 
surprised to hear that catholic priests of high rank are frequently 
honoured with invitations to the castle, and are noticed with the 
gracious attentions which are due to their character by the repre- 
sentative of majesty. 

The same proselytising spirit, before-mentioned, has aimed at 
effecting a closer adherence between the catholic priests and the 
state, not by taking their situation into consideration by an enlarged 
and liberal view of it, and wishing to relieve it merely because it 
wants and merits relief, but solely in the nature of a bribe, as if it 
were to say, " I feared you ; here, take this money, and let us be 
" friends forever after." 

It may be here necessary to observe, that the catholic priests in 
Ireland are supported by subscriptions amongst their flocks. Many 
of them are in the receipt of four hundred pounds per annum: the 
fees for christenings and marriage licenses are paid to the catholic 
bishop, which, with a discretional allowance from the priests of 
his diocese, constitute his revenues. There are no fees paid for 
burials and confessions. 

As the bounty of government has been extended to the dis- 
senting clergy in the north, it is but fair that the same indulgent 
disposition should be extended to the catholic priesthood. A 
liberal allowance should be made, and it should at the same time 
he made highly penal in the priest to receive any fees whatever: 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 331 

by this measure the catholic priest would feel that government 
was cordially attached to him. The catholic, who at present carries 
double, would be relieved in sustaining the heavy burden of sup- 
porting his own priest, and paying tithe to the minister of another 
religion. I have frequently heard enlightened clergymen of the 
established church, to their honour, much lament this heavy and 
unequal pressure. Government once took this subject into con- 
sideration, and proposed, I was informed, to pay the priest one 
hundred pounds per annum, and his coadjutor forty pounds per 
annum, which, on account of its being inadequate, was rejected. 
Men have other passions besides those which Sir Robert Walpole 
knew how to manage by metallic attraction. An Irish priest, 
however poorly provided for, will as much revolt against any po- 
litical stipulation, as the poor Irishman will against the gratuitous 
education of his child. If any thing like preliminary terms are 
offered — if affections are to be purchased with pounds, shillings, 
and pence — if he is an enlightened and honourable man, he will 
not be the seller. Government has, however, not passed the catho- 
lic over without some substantial and splendid proof of its maternal 
regard. In the year 1795 a college, called St. Patrick's college, 
for educating popish priests, was founded by act of parliament at 
Maynooth, in the county of Kildare, about ten miles from Dublin, 
on the Duke of Leinster's estate, (who liberally granted, rent free, 
sixty acres of ground for the institution), for which, as an endow- 
ment, the sum of forty thousand pounds, and an annual sum of 
eight thousand pounds were granted by parliament. The object of 
this institution is to afford those who are destined to the catholic 
priesthood the means of domestic education, instead of their being- 
obliged to go to foreign universities. Some catholics have doubted 
whether a foreign education was not more likely to be accom- 
panied with a more liberal and enlarged mind, and better man- 
ners; but, as every attention is paid to the cultivation of both, I do 
not see the force of this observation; and it is a matter of no little 
moment to the catholic and to the government, to have a mutual 
bond of amity and confidence thus established between them. 



332 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

The trustees of this College, appointed by act of parliament, are 

The Lord Chancellor. 

Lord Chief Justice of the King's-bench. 

Lord Chief Justice of the Com m on -pleas . 

Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer. 

Earl Fingall. 

Lord Gorman stown. 

Sir Edward Belleir, Bart. 

Sir Thomas French, Bart. 

Richard Strange, Esq. 

Most Rev. R. O'Reilly, D. D. v 

J. T. Troy, D. D. 

' Thomas Bray, D. D. 

— — — Boetius Egan, D. D. 

Right Rev. P. J. Plunket, D.D. 

p. Mac Devett, D. D. 

Francis Moylan, D. Do 

Ger. Teaghan, D.D. 

■ Daniel Delany, D. D. 

Edmund French, D.D. 

Rev. Thomas Hussey, D. D. 
What, if any, future indulgences it maybe in the contemplation 
of parliament to bestow upon the catholics, it would be presumption 
and imprudence to anticipate. From the present administration 
every liberal measure, consonant with sound wisdom and policy, 
may be expected in their behalf. 

ABSENTEE LANDHOLDERS. 

The poor Irish differ from the West-Indian slave in little more 
than that they suffer by the hand which they have not seen: it is 
their fate to languish under the oppression of the agents of ab- 
sentee lords, and to be wasted to the bone by middle-men. When 
leases of lands belonging to absentee proprietors expire, it is quite 
common for an advertisement to appear in the London papers, 
announcing that the lands which have fallen in hand are to be let, 
and that no preference is promised, which means that the last 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 333 

tenant will not be considered. If three farms have fallen in hand, 
it is notorious that the absentee landlord prefers consolidating 
them, for the noxious convenience of having an apparently respon- 
sible lessee, and only one rent to receive, although that rent is 
considerably less than what the aggregate amount of the rent of 
each farm would have produced, had it been separately let in the 
first instance ; and the taker of such consolidated farms will im- 
mediately let them separately, to be afterwards sub-let, until the 
last taker can scarcely, as I have stated, preserve himself from 
famine and raise his rent. The impolicy of this measure is plain: 
if the under-tenants fail in their rents, the first taker must be. 
embarrassed in making good his payments ; and the land, under 
such circumstances must be racked out, without any attention to 
the accustomed courses of good husbandry. 

AGENTS OF ABSENTEE LANDLORDS. 

The oppression in detail of this description of people is harassing 
beyond conception : it is the interest of an agent to have a poor 
tenantry ; their necessities at once enrich and render him irresis- 
tible. In cases of extreme poverty, the wretched tenant works 
out part of the rent by what is called duty-work, which is exacted 
to a cruel extent. When there is a little arrear of rent, it is com- 
mon for the agent to send to the tenant for a man and a horse, if 
he has either one or the other ; if not, he must attend himself, to 
the neglect of the little farm which he rents, and to a manifest 
future postponement in the payment of his rent. 

These agents frequently compel the small tenants within the 
gripe of their power to graze their sheep and fatten their poultry, 
in part discharge of an arrear of rent; and they frequently sell 
such sheep and poultry upon credit to such tenants, to prevent the 
source of their rapacity from being extinguished. The agents also 
exact a fee from three to twenty guineas upon a lease; and 
frequent are the instances of poor cottiers who, not being able to 
pay the fee, are obliged to work it out in the course of years, 
firing which they are subject to the most intolerable servitude to 
the agent. An intelligent friend of mine assured me that the 



334 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

following instance is very frequent. A poor cottier, eighty -four 
years old, rents in his neighbourhood a wretched cabin and a 
little potatoe-garden, for four guineas a year, and that his leases 
amounted to four guineas exclusive of stamps, and many days 
stipulated duty-work. There is also duty-work done for what is 
called conversation-money ; that is, an exchange of a few prelimi- 
nary words previous to the agreement for letting the land. Goaded 
to despair by such treatment, the miserable sufferers have been 
known to hough the cattle of their oppressors, and to burn their 
barns. Policy and humanity have already induced several absentee 
landlords to insert prohibitory clauses in their leases against under- 
letting without the consent of the lessor ; but the grievances which 
I have faintly depicted exist in Ireland to this hour, particularly 
in the north, south, and west, to an alarming degree. The conduct 
of the resident proprietors is truly exemplary. 

CABINS. 

To accustom the lower classes of people to acts of cleanliness, 
it would be a desirable thing if landlords were to insert clauses in 
their leases by which they should be vacated, if the cabin was not 
kept well white-washed within and without ; and if that abominable 
pile of filth, which is almost constantly to be found in the front of 
the dwelling, were not removed to some other place. A friend of 
mine, who has a considerable village in the north of Ireland, has 
tried this plan and succeeded. 

TILLAGE. 

It is the universal opinion of persons in Ireland conversant 
with the subject, that no other stimulus is necessary to the en- 
couragement of tillage in that country, than the removal of all 
restrictions upon the exportation of grain, and permitting it to 
meet the market of Great Britain and her colonies without any 
check. 

UNLICENSED DISTILLERIES. 

These exist, in an alarming degree, in the centre of bogs and 
places difficult of access, and are sometimes carried on in the. 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 335 

villages. I have mentioned that the worst parts of Dublin swarm 
with whisky shops. If the premium upon licenses were much 
increased, porter breweries encouraged, and clauses were inserted 
in the leases, vacating them if the tenant used an unlicensed dis- 
tillery, the baneful habit of drinking the most deleterious spirit to 
excess would be greatly corrected. 

PORTER BREWERIES. 

Their encouragement, I have shown, is of the first conse- 
quence to Ireland, and, in a moral and political point of view. 
must inevitably effect a rapid extension of tillage, 

THE EXCHANGE OF MILITIA. 

I scarcely know a measure which would be more gratifying to 
the Irish than this : it formed a frequent subject of conversation 
with the officers of several Irish militia regiments, who declared 
it as their opinion that the intercourse would have a strong ten- 
dency to attach the Irish to this country, and to civilize Ireland by 
a conformation of habits. I conversed with several intelligent pri- 
vate soldiers, and found amongst them a strong desire of associat- 
ing with the English in this manner. 

MAGISTRATES. 

During the rebellion a prodigious number of persons were put 
into the commission of the peace : in the hurly-burly of that disas- 
trous tempest, the duties of the office required but little skill, and 
were executed with no great nicety of legal discrimination: a little 
gleaning, if it could be managed, would be desirable. The situation 
is an important one, and too various, complicated, and potent, to 
be entrusted but to an informed and upright mind. In the north, 
Roman catholics have been admitted to the magistracy, and have 
conducted themselves with great advantage to tiie country. 

SUBORDINATE COURTS OF JUSTICE* 

I cannot help thinking, notwithstanding the n?.:urally vivacious 
disposition of the lower orders, that a spirit of subordination miccht 



336 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

be more widely diffused, if more decorum were preserved in the 
administration of local justice. An untravelled Englishman would 
scarcely believe, unless he were to see, the almost total want of 
dignity and order observed in these places in Ireland. 

OATHS. 

The levity with which this most solemn obligation is taken and 
violated in the courts abovementioned, is shocking. I have heard 
a fellow, mounted upon the table as a witness, lie in all directions; 
the only consequences were, as I have observed, that he was 
thought very amusing, and was not credited: the effect of an ex- 
hibition of depravity so exemplary must be a general relaxation in 
adhering to solemn engagements, and an encouragement to the 
foulest, and sometimes most fatal perversion of the truth. 

REGISTERS. 

The registers of baptisms, marriages, and burials, which in 
England we owe to the wisdom of lord Cromwell, who was vicar- 
general to Henry the eighth, is almost wholly unknown in Ireland. 
A correct knowledge of its population cannot therefore be known, 
and legal data must frequently be wanting. This is a defect ae 
striking as it is easy of remedy. 

There is no country which affords a better model for ascer- 
taining its population than Sweden, where tables are distributed to 
the clergymen and magistrates of every parish, for the purpose of 
enrolling the births, marriages, and deaths that occur in their re- 
spective districts, and specifying the number of inhabitants at that 
time subsisting: the first table is for a general list of births, deaths, 
and marriages ; the second for the bills of mortality ; the third for 
the number of inhabitants : the two former are kept by the parish- 
priests, and annually delivered; the latter by the parish-priests in 
the country, and by the magistrates in the towns, and are sent at the 
end of every third year to the commissioners of a board, called a 
Tabell Commission for inspecting and registering the bills of 
mortality, resident in Stockholm, who maintain a regular cor- 
respondence with all the parishes and towns in the kingdom- 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 337 

Throughout this department extraordinary care is taken to prevent 
mistakes. 

A compulsory law to force a regular registration in Ireland, to 
operate equally on the protestant and catholic priest, would be 
truly desirable. 

The constitution of this country would not admit of it, other- 
wise Sweden has exhibited in another instance her wisdom and 
policy, which I could wish were followed in every other country- 
She passed a law that every person, male and female, should learn 
to read. 

LINEN MANUFACTURES 

Are rapidly improving and extending in the north of Ireland. 
They have doubled within ten years : they have an immediate ten- 
dency to civilize and enlighten those who are employed in them , 
by producing an intercourse of the ignorant with the informed, 
and rendering a habit of calculation and negotiation in business 
indispensable : as they are at present conducted, they are injurious 
to agriculture ; but this arises solely from their being in a state of 
infancy. The manufacturers in the north are all cottiers, who are 
scattered over the country, and they grow their own flax and 
potatoes: each of them generally has about half an Irish acre of 
corn (oats), a rood of potatoes, and half a rood of flax and a cow's 
grass, that is, permission for his cow to graze with the landlord's 
cattle, and turf-fuel sufficient for one fire: these people never 
attend to agriculture but when they have no demand for their 
manufacturing labour. As the linen manufactures continue to 
increase, it will be found necessary for the petty manufacturers to 
aggregate in towns : from their present dispersion one advantage 
arises, the manufacturing cottier is more healthy than if he were 
shut up in a crowded working-room. 

CELEBRATION OF THE FOURTH OF NOVEMBER, IN COLLEGE- 
GREEN, DUBLIN. 

This annual commemoration, which I have described, ought. 
in my humble opinion, to be discontinued: the tendency of it is to 

2 U 



338 THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 

remind two-thirds of the population of Ireland, whom it is the 
professed object of government to conciliate and attach, that that 
day was a day of humiliation to them ; and to make the subject as 
painfully intelligible as possible, the bands of the different regi- 
ments which assist in military gala at this offensive ceremony, 
play the following tunes: "the Protestant Boys have carried the 
" Day, Croppies lie down, and the Boyne Water." 

I have ventured to offer these remarks, which I do with every 
degree of diffidence, prompted alone by an ardent desire of afford- 
ing my humble contribution towards ameliorating the condition 
of a country which, with some exceptions, has laboured under the 
foulest misrepresentations and aspersions. 

Heaven never committed to any government the care of a 
country upon which she has been more prodigally bountiful: for, 
independently of the genius of the people, Ireland throughout 
rests upon a bed of the richest manure : towards the sea she has 
sand, shells, and weed : inland, she abounds with limestone gravel, 
limestone marl, and other natural manures : her rivers and sur- 
rounding seas are all propitious to commerce, and are open to all 
the quarters of the world. The Shannon, the Liffey, the Lee, the 
Suir, the Bann, the Boyne, the Blackwater, and other rivers, her 
creeks, her numerous, vast, and beautiful lakes abound with fish 
of various descriptions, and with little assistance from the hand of 
man, can be formed into canals, which might easily unite the 
centre with the extremities of the island : upon the seas which 
surround her, vessels from the most distant regions can approach 
her coasts in the most tempestuous weather with safety : within a 
circuit of seven hundred and fifty miles, it has been estimated 
that she possesses sixty-six secure harbours. The fertility of the 
country, with a slender exception, is uncommonly luxuriant ; her 
climate is soft and salubrious, her bogs demonstrate her former 
consequence, and can be, and are rapidly reclaiming; an in- 
exhaustible stratum of coal is ready to supply its turf; and her 
peasantry, without having tasted much of happiness and prosperity, 
possess all the essential qualities by which both are deserved, and 
can be enjoyed and promoted. 



THE STRANGER IN IRELAND. 339 

Upon this country a new Aurora has shed her purple light. A 
jealous, angry, and mistaken policy is yielding to reason, gentle- 
ness, and toleration. Under the mild administration of a Hard- 
wicke, Ireland felt new confidence, and the hope of better days; 
that confidence will be rewarded, and those hopes realized under 
the auspices of the present government, which has displayed at 
once its paternal care and its wisdom, by confiding the destinies 
of that country to a nobleman of the most expanded and liberal 
mind, of the highest rank, and the most splendid fortune, and 
who has devoted himself to a science and to the course of investi- 
gation essential to the prosperity of all countries, but peculiarly to 
that over which he presides ; it would here be superfluous to name 
the present illustrious descendant of the house of Russell. 

I have now brought my volume to a close ; and the last 
effort of my pen shall be to implore felicity and prosperity upon a 
country which I have feebly attempted to describe, which I visited 
with delight, and quitted with regret. 

The lasi wish nf my heart with respect to the incorporation of 
Ireland with Great Britain is, that the description given by that 
great master of lyric poetry, Horace, of an union of another kind, 
may become every day more and more applicable to these twin 
stars of the western hemisphere. 

" Felices ter et amplius 

Qiios irrupta tenet copula, nee malis 
Divulsus querimoniis 

Suprema citius solvet amor die." 

Lib. I Od. 13. 

FINIS. 






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